Five-Year-Old Girl Shot Dead by Friend While Playing With Loaded Gun

A five-year-old girl from Georgia was shot dead when her playmate of the same age accidentally pulled the trigger of a gun they were playing with. Jada Willingham died at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston Hospital, the New York Post reported.

The incident occurred last Friday, Dec. 4, in the bedroom of a home in Lithonia where Jada and her friend were playing with a loaded 9 mm Smith & Wesson, which belonged to her friend's mother, who is in the military. The bullet struck Jada in the face. There were a babysitter and two other children in the house at the time.

According to the Dekalb County Police, they responded to a call around 2:30 p.m., to find a 68-year-old baby sitter holding a cloth on to Jada's face, in an attempt to control the bleeding. The babysitter is the grandmother of one of the children present at the house. She said she was in the kitchen when the incident occurred. On hearing the shot, the woman rushed to the bedroom to find Jada unconscious and bleeding from the face. The child was then rushed to the hospital.

The police report said Jada's playmate had found the weapon tucked under the bed. The girls then decided to go to the next room to play with the firearm, which ended in the tragedy. The friend said she didn't know the gun was loaded and "only pulled the trigger back a little."

The police have arrested a 36-year-old man named Chad Brooks in connection with the incident. He has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children for leaving the gun attended. Brooks is said to be the son-in-law of the baby-sitter.

People reported that Brooks is currently in the custody of Dekalb County Jail.

It was unclear from the reports where the mother, to whom the weapon belonged, was at the time of the incident.

The relatives of Jada have started a GoFundMe campaign to pay for her impending funeral. The page described Jada as "a beautiful, loving little girl" who loved Barbie dolls and painting.

In a similar incident, a 10-year-old South Carolina boy died last year, after being shot by his friends while playing. According to Fox17, the boys were playing in the living room when the gun went off, accidentally killing Dylan Twitty. The parent of the child, who shot Twitty, was then charged with unlawful neglect of a child.