Child accidentally shoots preschooler in St. Paul home
Updated: 6:30 p.m. | Posted: 12:19 p.m.
St. Paul police say a young boy shot a little girl after finding a handgun in a woman's purse in a home in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood Tuesday evening.
The woman who owned the gun could face firearms and drug charges.
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Police were called shortly after 6:30 p.m. at the home on East 3rd Street. They found a 4-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to her left leg.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said her 7-year-old brother shot her. A statement from his office said the boy briefly played with the gun before it went off.
The girl was hospitalized with what was thought to be a non-life threatening wound, said Police Sgt. Mike Ernster.
"Officers placed a tourniquet on the child's leg to help control the bleeding," he said. "St. Paul fire paramedics responded, obviously, and transported the victim to Regions (Hospital)."
Ernster said the 21-year-old St. Paul woman who owned the gun was arrested for felony child endangerment, cocaine possession and negligent storage of a firearm.
Mayor Chris Coleman said the "near-tragedy serves as a stark reminder about gun violence in our City. If you are a gun owner in Saint Paul, please be smart — secure guns in your home and model responsible behavior for young people."
Ramsey county provides gun locks free "without conditions or cost" at a number of recreation centers and community organizations, according to the county attorney's office.