A Virginia mother has been arrested after a little boy accidentally shot her young daughter using a gun that was left unsecured in a car, police said.
Destinie Rochelle Beach, 21, of Stephens City, Virginia, is charged with abuse and neglect of children and possession and transport of a firearm by a non-violent felon, Fauquier County police announced Thursday.
Police said Beach, Isaiah Marshall Davis, 26, of Winchester and three children were traveling from Winchester to Colonial Beach, when they stopped at a truck stop on the 9700 block of James Madison Highway in Opal, Virginia, on Friday night.
The adults got out of the vehicle, leaving the young children inside unsupervised and unrestrained, police said.
The 2-year-old boy found the gun and accidentally shot the 4-year-old girl in the upper body, police said. A toddler, who was also in the car, was not injured.
A clerk at the truck stop told police the woman brought the little girl inside the store, saying the child had been bitten by a dog. The clerk said the woman took the child to the bathroom to clean her up with peroxide and Band-Aids.
Before authorities arrived, the woman and child returned to the car and drove off. It wasn't until reaching Colonial Beach that the child was taken to the hospital and treated for her injuries.
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Authorities arrested Davis and charged him with three counts of felony child abuse and neglect, reckless handling of a firearm and allowing children to access a firearm.
Davis was taken to Northern Neck Regional Jail. Investigators said Davis is a convicted felon and wasn't supposed to have a gun.
Beach turned herself into police Thursday morning and is being held on a $5000 bond at Fauquier County Adult Detention Center, police said.
It is illegal in Virginia to leave a firearm unsecured in any way that could hurt a child under the age of 14.
