Orlando : A toddler in Florida fatally shot a woman during a video call after finding an unsecured handgun, police said Thursday.
Someone on the work-related Zoom conference called 911 and reported that they had seen a toddler and heard a noise before the woman, Shamaya Lynn, fell backward, police said in a statement.
Lynn, 21, was killed Wednesday in Altamonte Springs, near Orlando.
“Investigators determined that the injury was caused by a toddler who found a loaded handgun, which was left unsecured by an adult in the apartment,” Altamonte Springs police said in a statement. Police said Lynn was shot in the head.
The police statement did not identify the relationship, but NBC affiliate WESH of Orlando reported that police said she was the toddler’s mother.
Investigators said the handgun belonged to the father of the victim’s two young children, the station reported. Neither child was injured.
The case is under investigation, and no charges have been filed.
If you own a firearm, please keep it locked and secured,” Police Officer Roberto Ruiz Jr. said. “Incidents like this could be avoided.”
There were at least 369 unintentional shootings by children younger than 18 last year, with 142 deaths, according to the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, which tracks reports.
In North Carolina in February, a 25-year-old mother of five was inadvertently shot and killed after her children found a gun in her purse, police in the town of Cornelius said.
In April, a 3-year-old boy in Houston found an unsecured firearm and fatally shot his 8-month-old brother, police said.
