Child accidentally kills mom with gun from purse, police say
A 25-year-old woman was accidentally shot and killed Monday after one of her children found a gun inside the woman’s purse, Cornelius police said.
Police officers responded to a shooting call at an apartment in the 19300 block of Meridian Street around 7 p.m. on Monday. They found Gabriel Alexis Henderson in the back bedroom, where Medic pronounced her dead.
Henderson’s youngest child also was shot and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Detectives said that, after speaking to the witnesses, the only people inside the apartment during the shooting were Henderson and her five children. Police said they found a small semiautomatic handgun on the bed when they arrived. Four of the children were in the room at the time of the shooting, police said. The oldest child was in the living room when the incident occurred.
Police said the names of the children would not be released to protect their privacy.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 6:04 PM.
