A normal night of babysitting went horribly wrong when 19-year-old, Caitlyn Smith started taking selfies with a gun she found in the house, but she was unaware that it was fully loaded.
According to CNN, the incident happened on Tuesday evening when 19-year-old Caitlyn Smith arrived at the Houston apartment of her relatives to babysit her 10-year-old nephew.
At some point of time, Smith found a gun in the apartment – thinking it wasn’t loaded, she began taking selfies to post of Instagram.
According to the complaint – Smith told the investigators that she had been taking a video of herself with the gun, pointing out in different directions with her finger near the trigger. At some point in time, the gun accidentally went off and hit her nephew right in the stomach, the boy was immediately taken to the hospital.
County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez shared the news that the boy’s aunt has been arrested and charged with injury to a child serious bodily injury which is a second-degree felony.
Gonzalez wrote: “Update: the 10-year-old child is listed in serious condition but is expected to make a full recovery.”
Update: the 10-yr-old child is listed in serious condition but is expected to make a full recovery. The child’s aunt, Caitlyn Smith (w/f 19 yrs), has been arrested & charged with Injury to a Child-serious bodily injury. (2nd degree felony). Great work by our Child Abuse Unit and https://t.co/ik5tSVKoRy
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) February 27, 2020
Caitlyn Smith told the investigators that she had no knowledge of firearms and that she didn’t know how to load ammunition, or whether the safety was on or not. She later told the investigators that the boy’s father had shown her how to use the safety and get the weapon ready in case she ever needed to protect herself.
The good news is that the 10-year-old seems to be physically out of harm’s way. But will need psychological care as well to heal from the trauma.
Gun violence still remains one of the leading cause of deaths in the United States, according to The Trace, there have been at least 2,842 shooting in Houston only since 2014. The last 5 years’ data shows that the no. of the shooting has dropped each year.
Following the accidental shooting, Thomas Gilliland, senior deputy of the Harris County Sheriff’s office said, “Firearms are dangerous weapons so take precautions to make sure things like that don’t happen, taking selfies was not the best thing to be doing.”
Luckily the 10-year-old survived after being accidentally shot, but five years ago, a four-year-old boy was killed after he accidentally shot himself with a gun that he found at his babysitter’s house, in the same neighborhood.
In another tragedy, that occurred following the death of another Houston toddler who had been accidentally shot to death just three days before the accident.
Relatives of the dead toddler said, “It’s just a terrible accident, we see it all the time on the news but you never think it’ll hit home.”
With all the incidents in recent years involving the death of innocent children, an 11-Year-Old girl made headlines after she appeared with her grandfather with a loaded AR-15 to support the gun freedom bill.
Bailey Nielsen walked into the courthouse to support the gun freedom bill with her grandfather Charles Nielsen.
Speaking in the favor of the gun bill, Charles said “People are living in fear, terrified of what which they don’t understand, She’s been shooting since she was 5 years old. She got her first deer with this weapon at 9. She carries it responsibly, She knows how to put her finger on the trigger.”
“Bailey is carrying a loaded AR-15,” Charles addressed the hearing committee. The duo was there to support a proposal that would allow visitors to own firearms and carry a concealed handgun within city limits.
