A three-year-old Florida girl was rushed to the hospital and her 23-year-old relative was arrested after the little girl found an unattended loaded gun on the couch and accidentally shot herself in the hand.
The horrifying scene was caught on surveillance video from inside the home.
Little Serenity was playing in the living room while Orlando Young, who told police he was staying at the house with the toddler, was watching a Sunday football game on his laptop.
Young was celebrating a touchdown, the video shows, when Serenity climbed up on the couch, discovered the discarded gun, and fired it, hitting her right hand. Nearby was Serenity’s four-year-old brother, Benjamin, and a disabled adult relative who was unable to move.
The girl’s grandmother, Robin Fuller, uploaded the video to Facebook along with the caption, “Video of when my granddaughter shot herself at her OTHER GRANDMA HOUSE,” according to DailyMail.com.
(Video: YouTube)
Serenity had to endure a surgery to reattach her finger and was released from the hospital on Tuesday.
Young was arrested on charges of child neglect resulting in great bodily harm and was released on bond on Tuesday night.
“I just kept rewatching it, I just kept replaying it, replaying, it, because I’m like, ‘How can this happen?'” Serenity’s mother, Warneicia Williams, said of the heart-stopping video.
“I’m just grateful my daughter is alive, because if you watch the video, the gun was pointed at her chest,” Williams told 7News.
“The bullet went straight through her finger,” Williams said. “Her hand stopped the bullet. Her hand saved her life.”
Williams is sorry for Young, but says the young man was “careless.”
“Yes, I do feel bad for Orlando. I feel bad for him, because it wasn’t intentional, he didn’t do it intentional,” she said, “so, yes, I understand, but at the end of the day, it was careless.”
“The police arrived because I called the police myself when I received the phone call and eventually the police arrived and they asked ‘Where is the baby?'” Fuller told 7News. “I don’t want them over there ever again.”
Speaking to WPLG, Williams said she wants accountability.
“I’m angry. I’m sad,” she said. “Hurt more.”
“To carelessly leave a gun with one in the chamber, off safety, was the dumbest thing,” she said.
(Video: YouTube)
“This is so stupid,” she stated.
“He has to be held accountable for his actions,” she said of Young. “He does.”
“Her hand saved her life,” said little Benjamin. “But her was bleeding everywhere on her hand.”
“And there was red,” he added. “And there was blood everywhere, in the hallway.”
“Put the guns up,” Williams told parents. “Put them up. If you have kids in the home, lock it up. Keep them on safety. Especially if you know that you have kids in the home. I don’t want nobody to ever be in this situation. That was the worst call I ever received.”
While in jail, Young managed to pick up an additional charge after being accused of throwing punches at another inmate, 7News reports.
He bonded out of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade and denies the child neglect portion of his charge.
Williams has set up a GoFundMe to help with the medical bills.
“Please help save her finger,” Williams asked. “Right now we do not know if her finger will heal or die. We’re hoping for the best, however her medical expenses are high, and I’m unable to work due to the incident.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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