SLIDELL – A 24-year-old woman was arrested after her 4-year-old niece shot herself in the hand after taking a gun out of a cabinet in the living room, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
The incident occurred around 10 a.m. in a residence on Parkline Boulevard.
According to the police, the child was in the care of Frederica Lee, when Ms. Lee heard a gunshot from the living room area. The sheriff’s office said Lee told deputies that the child had taken a gun out of a cabinet and discharged it, leaving her with a non-life-threatening injury.
Lee took the child to the hospital.
The sheriff’s office said that a search warrant executed at the house found the cabinet with two guns inside, both loaded and easily accessible to the child.
Lee was arrested for one count of cruelty to a juvenile and taken to the St. Tammany Parish Jail.
The child was released to the custody of her father.
