Inset: Diamond Phillips (Manatee County Sheriff’s Office). Background: A section of Hidden Circle East in Sarasota, Florida (Google Maps).
A Florida mother has been jailed after authorities say her 4-year-old son found a loaded gun in her purse and fatally shot himself in the head.
Diamond Phillips, 29, faces a charge of culpable negligence involving a firearm, according to Manatee County court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
Authorities have not publicly identified the child.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence on Hidden Circle East in Sarasota on June 21 after receiving a report that a 4-year-old boy had shot himself.
Deputies arriving at the home spoke with Phillips and the boy’s grandmother. They said the child had fired the weapon using his mother’s gun, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Emergency responders treated the boy at the scene, but he was pronounced dead later that day.
As the investigation continued, deputies learned that the child had taken the gun from Phillips’ green Steve Madden purse. The purse had been left on the kitchen island, the affidavit states.
Investigators said the boy’s position supported that account. He was found lying on his back in front of the island, with an apparent gunshot wound above his left eye, according to the charging document.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Trump Administration Considers Baseball Stadium Inside U.S. National Park
His feet were pointed toward the kitchen island, suggesting he had fallen backward from it, authorities said. Investigators also located a bullet fragment in the ceiling above his body.
Phillips reportedly told investigators that she stored her Smith & Wesson handgun in a zippered section of the purse without a holster.
She said she normally carried the loaded firearm in her purse for protection when she was away from home, the affidavit states.
Phillips also reportedly said she typically placed the purse on the kitchen island, microwave, or refrigerator to keep it away from her children.
According to the affidavit, Phillips said the children were not permitted to eat at the island and could reach the table only by climbing onto bar stools.
Phillips told investigators that shortly before the shooting, she heard the grandmother instruct the children to stay off the stools and away from the island. The boy’s 2-year-old brother was nearby at the time.
Investigators concluded that both the kitchen island and the purse were accessible to the children, leading them to charge Phillips with culpable negligence involving a firearm. She was later arrested.
Court records show Phillips posted bond on Wednesday, Sept. 23. Her arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 6.
The post 4-year-old boy finds gun in mother’s Steve Madden purse on kitchen island and fatally shoots himself above the eye: Deputies first appeared on Law & Crime.
