A Florida mother has been arrested months after authorities say her 4-year-old son found a loaded handgun inside her purse and accidentally shot himself in the face.
Diamond Sharee’Nicole Phillips, 29, was arrested Sept. 22 in connection with the June 21 death of her son at a home in Sarasota. She has been charged with culpable negligence involving a firearm accessible to a minor.
According to a probable cause affidavit cited by local news outlets, deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office were called to a home on Hidden Circle East after receiving a report that a child had shot himself.
Investigators said the 4-year-old had apparently climbed onto a kitchen stool, reached into his mother’s purse and pulled out a loaded .380-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun.
The weapon then discharged.
Forensic evidence and the autopsy reportedly indicated the child may have been looking down the barrel when the gun fired. Investigators also found a bullet fragment in the kitchen ceiling.
Authorities said the gun experienced what appeared to be a “stovepipe” malfunction, meaning the spent casing failed to fully eject and became caught in the firearm.
According to the affidavit, investigators believed that malfunction was consistent with the gun being fired by a very young child who did not have enough grip strength to allow the weapon to cycle normally.
Phillips told detectives she usually carried the gun in her purse for protection while away from home and typically unloaded it after returning.
But investigators allege that did not happen on June 21.
Instead, the gun was allegedly left loaded inside a compartment of her purse, without a holster or other securing device, while the purse sat on the kitchen island.
Phillips told investigators she believed the purse was out of reach because it was placed in the middle of the island and that her children knew they were not supposed to climb onto the kitchen stools.
But the affidavit says the boy did exactly that.
His grandmother was reportedly also inside the home and had warned the 4-year-old and his 2-year-old brother shortly before the shooting not to climb onto the counter.
The younger sibling was in the kitchen when the gun went off.
The case took months to develop before Phillips was arrested.
She was taken into custody Sept. 22 and released the following day on $10,000 bond. She is scheduled to return to court Nov. 6, according to the court information cited in the original report.
Florida law specifically addresses loaded firearms that are accessible to children.
State law says a loaded gun must generally be kept in a securely locked box or container, secured with a trigger lock, or stored in a location a reasonable person would believe to be secure when a minor may gain access to it.
A separate Florida culpable-negligence statute makes it a third-degree felony when a person leaves a loaded firearm within the reach or easy access of a minor and the child gets the gun and uses it to injure or kill themselves or someone else. The statute also directs investigators to send their findings to the state attorney when the deceased child is the parent or guardian’s minor child.
