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NOLA.com report: 3-year-old found brother's gun in bathroom, pulled trigger

Our news partners report that the police say the gun was left on the back of the toilet without the safety on.

NEW ORLEANS — A young girl who was shot and killed in a French Quarter home pulled the trigger on a gun left in the bathroom by her brother, according to police, according to a report on The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate.

The paper reported that 3-year-old Autumn Barthelemy was being cared for by her 18-year-old brother Donnell Barthelemy. They say Donnell Barthelemy was in the bedroom when his sister went to the restroom, found the gun, which did not have a safety on, and fired a shot that killed her.

Barthelemy was taken into custody on negligent homicide counts in the death of his sister and while there he was also booked on second-degree murder for a killing last year.

There had been a warrant issued for Barthelemy in the September 30 shooting death of 34-year-old Brian Thomas. Police say Barthelemy was with a couple of other people in the 2400 block of Ursulines Street when they ran into another group and Barthelemy got into an altercation with one of them, fired a shot and ran off. Police say Thomas died on the scene.

People who live in the area where the fatal shooting occurred, talked about the incident.

“I walked out the door and heard screaming. The first thing I heard was screaming,” said Jake Stout who lives in the same block.    

After seeing someone franticly running, Stout quickly realized what was happening. 

“All I saw was that there was someone on the ground. There were at least probably three or more people that were surrounding her,” he said.

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