6-Year-Old Fatally Shot By 12-Year-Old Brother While Parents Attend Christmas Party

A 12-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his six-year-old sister on Friday, in Florissant, Missouri, while their parents were attending a Christmas party.

The victim, Maliyah Palmer, was fatally shot in the head by her brother, who happened to find a 9-mm handgun in a dresser drawer in his parents' bedroom. The name of the boy was not revealed.

According to Police Chief Timothy Lowery, the parents of the siblings were at a Christmas party when the incident took place. The pair were being watched by their eldest sister, who was 16 years old, local news outlet St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"You couldn't have written a more tragic script, the whole thing is just so tragic and terrible, but we have to put our personal feelings aside and do the law enforcement side of this," Lowery said.

Officers responded to the scene around 11 p.m. local time Friday (12 a.m. EST Saturday) and rushed Palmer to a nearby hospital, where she died a little while later.

"All of the officers who responded to the scene are mothers and fathers, so you can only imagine how personal it is to see a child shot in the back of the head. We will have counselors here for a debriefing hopefully this week to make sure the mental state of our officers is OK,” Lowery added.

Florrisant Police Officer Steve Michael said the 12-year-old "accidentally discharged a round” which killed the victim and hence “no charges will be filed at this time.” However, Lowery later said declaring that no charges would be filed was not accurate.

Instead, he clarified the investigators would hand over their findings to the prosecutors who could decide if any charges needed to be filed in the case – as was standard procedure.

Ed Magee, a spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, confirmed the police had not turned over the findings from the investigation to their office as of Monday. He added that someone from their office was in touch with the police department and relaying updates regarding the investigation.

Parkway School District spokeswoman Cathy Kelly confirmed the victim was a first-grade student at Green Trails Elementary School in Chesterfield, Missouri, and that additional counselors were brought in the school Monday to help children cope with the loss.

“Our goal will be to keep the day and routine normal," school principal Rene Sommers wrote in a letter to the parents. "We will share the news honestly and openly so that understanding, processing, grieving and healing can begin."

She added that the institution will be working with Annie’s Hope, a bereavement center for young people.

There have been several incidents in the past where toddlers accidentally fired guns after coming across stray firearms that had not been kept out of their reach. One such instance was in Gallup, New Mexico, last week, when an infant was shot by a three-year-old in a motel while the latter’s father and his partner took a shower. The adults in the case were charged with child abuse.

In another example, a two-year-old boy in Lebanon, Indiana, accidentally shot his four-year-old sister. The incident happened while they were being watched by their grandparents.

"I cannot stress how important it is to make sure if you own a firearm they have to be safe at all times. A child does not know everything about a firearm and it doesn't take much for an accident to happen. Firearm safety, there are classes all over the place. If you are going to have one make sure you have somewhere safe to keep it," Lebanon Police Officer Justin Fuston said at the time.