Nine-year-old girl is 'shot dead by her cousin, five, who found a loaded gun in their Philadelphia home and fired it at her head'
A nine-year-old Philadelphia girl was shot and killed after police say her five-year-old cousin found a loaded gun and pulled the trigger while the children were left without adult supervision on Wednesday.
The deadly shooting took place in the 2300 block of North Bouvier Street in North Philadelphia at around 11am.
The nine-year-old victim, her 12-year-old brother and their young cousin were home alone when the five-year-old boy somehow got hold of the loaded gun and shot the girl in the right side of her head.
A nine-year-old girl was shot in the head and killed by her five-year-old male cousin inside this black-colored rowhouse in Philadelphia on Wednesday
The two children were in the care of the girl's 12-year-old brother, but there were no adults at home
Her older brother called 911 and reported the shooting. The victim was rushed to Temple University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead from her injuries before 2pm, reported Fox29.
Police officers who responded to the scene on the block lined with boarded-up, blighted homes recovered two guns from the residence.
According to sources talking to CBS Philadelphia, the father of the nine-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy is not legally permitted to own a gun and is expected to be charged in connection to the fatal shooting.
Patrick Flood, who described himself to Philadelphia Inquirer as a life-long friend of the father, said the nine-year-old girl was known to her loved ones as Butterfly and was 'quiet, nice, peaceful, loving.'
The siblings' father could face criminal charges in connection to the shooting
Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said officers removed two guns from the home where the three children were unsupervised
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner called the child's killing 'heartbreaking' and said more needs to be done to take guns off the streets
A next-door neighbor told the newspaper that the father was 'was always out in the street.'
'It's heartbreaking. It's absolutely heartbreaking,' Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said. 'There are too many guns out there, and we have to do better in terms of protecting our children from gun violence of all types. And we've had enough.'
'We seem to have these more and more and my office will do everything we can to support the trauma the children have suffered and others are suffering here.'