Woman Allegedly Shoots Daughter By Accident While Looking For Keys

Crime

Police in Nashville, Tennessee, say they are investigating an incident involving a woman who claimed she accidentally shot and killed her 13-year-old daughter on Saturday while reaching into her purse.

Dearria Radley was pronounced dead at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital after police responded to the family’s home to a report of a pistol discharged, a police press release read.

According to the release, Dearria’s mother told detectives that she was trying to find her keys inside her purse when her unholstered .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol discharged and shot her daughter once.

Dearria Radley, 13, was shot and killed in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday.

The department’s Youth Services Division is investigating the incident. No charges were immediately filed, according to the release. Investigators did not respond to HuffPost’s requests for an update.

Dearria’s mother, who identified herself as DeAnne Radley in an interview with local news outlet WSMV, said her “world is just falling apart” since losing her daughter.

“I didn’t know my gun was loaded in my purse and shot through my bag,” Radley told the outlet. “Then I saw the blood and oh God…”

The mother has also expressed her grief in several posts on Facebook, stating: “I WOULDNT WISH THIS PAIN ON ANYONE MY HEART IS IN A MILLION PIECES.”

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control ad Prevention cited by the nonprofit group Everytown, firearms are the leading cause of death for children under the age of 18 in the U.S., and unintentional shootings make up at least 5% of annual gun deaths for those under 17.