Tragedy struck a Florida family this week when a toddler accidentally shot his mother as she spoke with her employer via a Zoom call. Shamaya Lynn was killed when her baby got hold of an unsecured firearm.
The Altamonte Springs Police Department posted on its Facebook page that they received a call from one of the people that Lynn was on the Zoom call with. That individual said they had seen the toddler and heard a noise before Lynn fell backward.
Paramedics rushed to the scene and tried to save Lynn, but the wound proved to be fatal.
The toddler found the loaded firearm when another adult in the home failed to secure it. It was later determined that the firearm belonged to the father of the victim’s two younger children, reported WESH.
This incident again sheds light on ensuring that firearms and other weapons are out of the grasp of small children.
“If you own a firearm, please keep it locked and secured,” said Police Officer Roberto Ruiz Jr. “Incidents like this could be avoided.”
According to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety’s #NotAnAccident index, so far, there have been at least 239 unintentional shootings by toddlers and children under 18 years of age this year. Fifty-seven of those shootings were fatal.
In April, a toddler in Houston accidentally shot and killed his eight-month-old brother when he found an unsecured firearm. In February, a mother of five was killed, and one of her younger children was wounded when one of her children found her gun in her purse.
The police have not filed any charges yet in Lynn’s death, although the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office is still investigating with the help of local detectives.
The young mother was 21-years-old at the time of her death. The children are in the care of relatives at this time.
