Toddler Battles For Life After Mother Accidentally Shoots Her During Fight With Neighbor

Police in Detroit, Michigan arrested a woman after she accidentally shot her 20-month-old daughter during a feud with their next-door neighbor over an Uber Eats order. The toddler was rushed to a hospital in critical condition after she was hit in the hip by the bullet.

The incident happened in the 4200 block of Tyler Street just before 8.00 p.m. ET Monday. During the altercation, the neighbor reportedly took out a hammer, and the mother of the toddler, whose name wasn’t revealed, opened fire. One of the bullets hit the child, who was seated in a car, according to WDIV-TV.

Neighbors told responding officers that the scuffle broke out over a mix-up concerning an Uber Eats order. One neighbor who spoke to the news station on the condition of anonymity said the food order was sitting on the shared porch of the mother and her neighbor.

Police recovered both the hammer and the pistol from the scene. Authorities told WXYZ-TV that the woman was the holder of a concealed pistol license (CPL). "There are a lot of people that are lawfully carrying firearms. And I encourage the people who are able to do that lawfully to do so lawfully. But with that comes a great responsibility of what your actions can be and obviously what the consequences can be," the station quoted Detroit Police Department Captain Ian Severy as saying.

"I don’t know if I can adequately find the words for the feeling I get when anytime a child or an innocent person of any sort, is the victim of violence," Severy said, according to Fox 2. "It is disgusting, quite frankly."

It is not clear what charges were levied against the mother.

Uber said, according to WXYZ-TV, that they are looking into the matter.

In a similar incident, a three-year-old girl was accidentally shot and killed by her seven-year-old brother in April. Paramedics rushed the girl to a hospital following the incident, where she died of severe injuries. The girl, identified as Ruby Jackson, was playing “swords” with her older brother when he picked the loaded and unsecured gun from the couch and accidentally opened fire, striking the girl in the chest. Their mother, 24-year-old Michaela Dawn Harman, was outside the house smoking a cigarette when the incident took place. Harman was taken into custody on charges of child abuse, resulting in death.