A 4-year-old girl was shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother. The semiautomatic pistol belonged to the little girl’s father, who has since fled their Philadelphia home.
The girl, whose name has not been released, according to Daily Mail, was shot once in the face. She was pronounced dead five minutes later.
Sources say police are still looking for the father, who has been identified as 30-year-old Maurice ‘Stephon’ Phillips.
The little girl lived in the home with Phillips, her mother Tera Riddick, and five siblings, three sisters and two brothers. According to reports, Riddick was known for being a protective mother. The family lived in a violent neighborhood and she never let her children play outside.
Louise Sawyer, neighbor of the family, said once she asked Riddick why she never let her children play outside of the home. Riddick responded, “I’m not bringing these kids out here with all this trouble”.
Sixty violent crimes have been reported in Kensington in the last month. The family’s home is in an area that police refer to as the ‘gun grid’.
No arrest had been made by Saturday night, however, the gun was recovered from the home, which Phillips had posted a picture of on Facebook with a box of hollow-point bullets on February 14. He also posted a picture of an assault rifle.
Homicide Captain James Clark said police ‘desperately’ needed to find the girl’s father, he told Philly.com.
