Neighbors recall heartbreaking moments after a 2-year-old girl was fatally shot by an unsecured gun

»Update: Grandmother charged after 2-year-old girl was accidentally shot by her cousin with an unsecured gun

It was a scene of nightmares: a mother running out of her home, her baby limp in her arms, pleading for help.

“Please help me, please help me,” she screamed. “My baby’s been shot!”

It was around noon Thursday, and a registered nurse driving down the 1600 block of North 29th Street in the Brewerytown section of the city heard the screams, pulled over, and jumped out. Another woman and man ran to the mother’s aid.

The little girl, only 2 years old, had been shot in the back of the head. She was bleeding profusely and her breathing was shallow, said the nurse, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons.

Police rushed the mother and child to Temple University Hospital, but the baby’s injuries were too severe. She died shortly upon arrival, at 12:30 p.m.

And as if the nightmare couldn’t get worse: Police say the baby was accidentally shot by her 14-year-old cousin, a teen with developmental disabilities who got ahold of a relative’s unsecured weapon and fired it.

The 14-year-old and his cousin were in the upstairs room of the home they lived in with six other relatives when the teen found his grandmother’s gun in an unlocked drawer or closet, law enforcement sources said.

“While he was handling it, the weapon fired at least once,” said Sgt. Eric Gripp, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department.

Gripp declined to say whether the weapon was legally owned, citing the ongoing investigation.

But, standing in front of the family’s home Thursday, he said one thing was clear: This tragedy could have been prevented.

“How many times have we been standing out here and talking about an issue of unsecured firearms and what this can lead to?” Gripp asked. “This is yet another child whose life was tragically cut short.”

The 14-year-old had little understanding of what he had done, officials said. But neighbors said he was distressed as police took him into custody that afternoon.

“My fault. My fault,” he repeated, according to witnesses.

The little girl, whom police have not yet named, is the youngest child to die from a gunshot this year in Philadelphia. She is one of 19 children 12 or younger who have been shot this year — a total far higher than in any of the last five years, even as overall shootings have decreased from the records set in 2021 and 2022.

At least six of the children were shot accidentally, according to an Inquirer analysis, many mirroring the circumstances that left the little girl dead: A kid finds an unsecured gun and accidentally fires it.

Gripp said the investigation was ongoing and declined to comment on whether anyone would face charges.

A family of four adults and four children — ages 1, 2, 9 and 14 — lived in the home, he said.

The relatives home at the time of the shooting were being questioned by police Thursday afternoon.

The screams of the mother and sight of the lifeless child replayed in neighbors’ minds. When one woman heard the news that the child had died, she fell to her knees. She said she had just seen the child and her mother earlier that day, walking to the store for snacks.

Another woman was visibly shaking as she recalled trying to call for help.

“She was just screaming,” she said of the mother.

“Why was there a gun in the house with the children?”

The nurse also stood in disbelief. She didn’t know how she could finish her work day. This, coupled with the fact that her 34-year-old cousin Richard Coles was fatally shot just five days ago, was too much.

She took out her phone and emailed her therapist, asking to restart sessions.

Just as neighbors stepped back inside their homes, more sobs echoed from down the block. An elderly woman was running up 29th Street toward the scene.

“No! God, please, no!” she repeated, over and over.

She shuffled into the street, not checking for passing cars, as she made her way toward the home. She stumbled up the stairs, past the caution tape, before collapsing into the arms of a police officer standing by the front door.

Then she walked back down the stairs and away from the rowhouse. She said nothing, only wept.