Florida Teen Shoots 6-Year-Old Sister In Chest, Victim In Critical Condition
Police in Broward County, FL were dispatched to a local home Saturday night in response to a 911 call that a teenage male had shot his 6-year-old sister.
The shooting took place at approximately 7:00pm on the 5900 block of Northeast Second Terrace in Oakland Park, the Broward County Sheriff's Office reports.
According to neighbors the siblings were playing a game of hide-and-seek unsupervised by their parents who were not at home at the time of the incident, when the 13-year-old brother, whose name has not been release, somehow managed to get access to a handgun and shot his little sister in the chest. Emergency Medical Personnel arrived on the scene soon thereafter.
Neighbor Justin Latoutrrette reported to the media that paramedics "carried her straight out in their arms and you could tell she had a hole in her chest above her heart where she was shot. She had her eyes open. You could tell she was in shock.
The young girl was transported to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where she was listed in critical but stable condition on Sunday night, according to Broward Sheriff's Office spokesperson Dani Moschella.
"We don't know at this point if this was an accident or if it was intention," Moschella told reporters.
A neighbor told the Miami Herald that "the little boy just sat there rocking back and forth...It's just so devastating. They had just moved in two weeks ago."
The Child Protective Investigative Section was on the scene Saturday night, looking into the incident.
"It is very difficult when dealing with children, specifically children who've been through a very traumatic situation," Moschella said. "This family will never be the same after tonight, no matter how it ends up."
In accordance with Florida laws, the children's parents could be charged with a third degree felony if police determine that the gun was "within the reach or easy access of a minor" and was used to cause injury or death, The Raw Story reports.