Police: 3-Year-Old Shoots Self With Father's Gun In Southwest Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Officials say a 3-year-old girl may lose her leg after shooting herself with a gun belonging to her father.
Philadelphia police say just before 12 p.m. Sunday the toddler was found bleeding inside her home on 100 block of South Wilkins Street in the Kingsessing section of the city.
"She has three gunshot wounds, which came from one bullet from a 40 caliber Glock handgun," said Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker. "So it looks like the child had her leg folded it went through her thigh, through her calf, and then blew her calf out. They are working hard at children's hospital to try and save her leg."
Authorities say the child had obtained the weapon inside one of the bedroom of the home.
"The father had gone to work and left the gun with grandma, who was supposed to put the gun in the closet and secure it," Walker said.
Investigators say the child's grandmother fell asleep before securing the weapon, and the 3-year-old shot herself.
Officials say the child's grandmother would then hide the father's gun and cleaned the scene before calling 911.
"Medics arrive, they initially believe they are responding to nothing but a hemorrhage or a bleeding call," said Walker. "They get up to the third-floor bedroom and find a 3-year-old child on the bed she's bleeding. Medics are trying to determine what actually happened inside the house. Grandma is not helping at this point telling us she didn't know."
Officials say the child's grandmother only told medics about the gun after they clearly realized the child's injury was a gunshot wound.
"Medics arrive on scene they have to be able to treat these kids with the right attention, that little bit of delay could've caused a lot of problem with for us with this child," Walker said.
The child's grandmother, Barbara McGill, was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment of another person, and tampering with evidence.
The toddler's father, Terrance Williams, was arrested and charged with endangering welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person.
