Mom Went into Restaurant and Left 5 Kids Behind. Her Son, 11, Then Allegedly Shot 6-Year-Old Sister Dead with ‘Unsecured Gun’
Tonya Charisse-Annice Johnson has been charged with a firearms safe storage violation, three counts of second-degree child abuse and four counts of felony firearm
Authorities in Detroit are investigating a heartbreaking case involving a family tragedy that unfolded inside an unattended vehicle. A mother has been charged after leaving several children in a car outside a restaurant, where a devastating incident later occurred involving an unsecured firearm.
Tonya Charisse-Annice Johnson, 41, has been charged with a firearms safe storage violation, three counts of second-degree child abuse and four counts of felony firearm, the Detroit Police Department announced in an update on Facebook on March 6.
Johnson allegedly left her five children unattended in a van as she entered a restaurant on March 2.
At around 12:06 p.m. local time that day, police responded to reports of a shooting involving a 6-year-old girl at a restaurant on Harper Avenue. Officers arrived to find the girl “suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.” She was transported to a hospital, where she died from her injuries.
Johnson allegedly left her daughter and her four other children, aged 2 to 11, unattended in her van in the parking lot of the Farmer John Food Center when the shooting occurred, WXYZ reported. First Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald previously said that the girl’s mom left the children in the car to get food.
Police said in the update that Johnson’s 11-year-old son allegedly “found an unsecured handgun in the vehicle and fired it, striking the 6-year-old victim in the head, fatally wounding her.” The boy and girl have not been publicly identified.
“This was preventable,” Fitzgerald told WXYZ of the fatal shooting.
“We have safe storage for a reason,” he added. “Secure your weapons. A 6-year-old girl that will no longer go to school. She can’t grow up to be a Detroit police officer or work for any of the media outlets. It is really really sad but it’s preventable.”
Prosecutors also found other unsecured weapons at Johnson’s home, CBS News reported
“The alleged facts of this case are among the worst child safe storage cases that we have seen,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told the outlet. “This will affect these children forever. The loss of the life of one of their siblings in a closed compartment of the defendant’s car cannot be unseen.”
PEOPLE reached out to the Detroit Police Department for comment on Sunday, March 8, but did not immediately receive a response.
