A Hammond man is facing charges after his 3-year-old daughter took a gun stored between bed mattresses and shot herself in the heel.
Kendall A. Wilson, 25, is charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 3 felony.
He posted a $4,000 bond Thursday.
Hammond Police responded Feb. 11, just before noon, to the 1100 block of Logan Street.
Wilson had his arms wrapped around the girl, waiting for paramedics.
The girl’s mother said she was on the phone with a relative when she stopped watching the toddler for “a few seconds,” assuming she went into the living room. The girl must have been crouched down and got the gun.
She heard a “loud pop” she knew was a gunshot. The child was bleeding from her foot. The 6-month-old sibling was also in the house.
Cops found another gun in a headrest behind their sofa, the affidavit said.
The Lake County Prosecutor’s Office recently held a pilot safety class in an East Chicago school to educate third-graders not to play with unattended guns.
Northwest Indiana has had a number of incidents in recent years where a toddler was killed or seriously injured after finding a gun in the home.
Last month, a judge sentenced Kyle Penro, 29, of Merrillville, to prison after his son picked up a loaded gun he tossed on the bed after work. The boy fatally shot himself in the chest.
Penro was originally charged with multiple felonies, including neglect of a dependent resulting in catastrophic injury, a Level 1 felony.
mcolias@post-trib.com
