CUMBERLAND, Ind. — An Indianapolis man has been charged in connection with the deadly accidental shooting of a 4-year-old girl inside a Cumberland apartment in July.
Terrelle Shawn Jackson has been formally charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death from the incident, in which 4-year-old Deor Neita was accidentally shot by a 6-year-old sibling.
Around 4:30 p.m. July 5, Cumberland Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to an apartment complex in the 600 block of Woodlark Drive, near East Washington Street and North German Church Road, for a report of a possible child shot.
Officers located Deor with a gunshot wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
During interviews with multiple witnesses, including children, detectives learned four children 6 years old and younger had located a gun in an upstairs bedroom.
"It is believed the children had prior knowledge the firearm was kept there and whom it belonged to," Cumberland police said in a statement.
The gun was loaded with an extended magazine and didn't have a gunlock or safety enabled, police said.
The four children played with the gun in a separate upstairs bedroom when a 6-year-old boy accidentally fired the gun, hitting Deor.
"It is not believed the 6-year-old had any intention on harming any individual nor had the understanding of the devastation a firearm can create," police said.
Detectives determined the gun allegedly belonged to Jackson, who lived at the apartment and shared one child with Deor's mother.
Jackson wasn't legally allowed to possess a gun at the time of the shooting, police said and "his alleged intentional failure to properly secure a loaded firearm in a home with six small children directly contributed" to Deor's death.
A warrant for Jackson's arrest was issued Aug. 15, and he was taken into custody Sept. 8 and transported to the Marion County Jail.
"It's gut-wrenching," Cumberland Police Chief Suzanne Crooke-Woodland said the day of the shooting. "It doesn't make any sense. It's tragic. It's tragic for the family, for us and for the officers that had to come in and witness that. This could have all been prevented."