Dad faces charges after 4-year-old shoots herself in Grovetown

GROVETOWN, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - We are learning more about a shooting in Grovetown that sent a 4-year-old girl to the hospital.

Investigators say she’s in critical condition, fighting for her life.

The father of the child, Daveon Daniels, is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, second-degree cruelty to children, and possession of a machine gun.

We sat down with the Grovetown Police Department to learn more about what happened that day.

The Grovetown Police Department says this shooting was totally avoidable. Now officers are on a mission to drive home the importance of gun responsibility and safety.

News 12 found that Daniels served two years in a Kentucky prison for receiving stolen property. That property was a firearm.

Now, he’s facing more serious charges, accused of leaving a handgun he is not allowed to own unattended next to his 4-year-old daughter.

“This was a totally avoidable incident, by his own ission, he placed the gun on the floor and walked downstairs with a 4-year-old walking around in the house,” said Jamey Kitchens, chief of the Grovetown Police Department.

The gun had been converted to be fully automatic. Daniels is facing multiple charges after his daughter shot herself at their apartment on Sterlington Drive.

Kitchens says it brings up an important lesson about being a responsible gun owner.

Benjamin Wallace, manager at Defense Solutions, says it all comes down to locks for your guns and the four main safety rules of handling a gun.

“It is probably just as important to teach children firearm safety as much as keeping the firearms out of reach, you know, out of easy access,” said Wallace.

From lock boxes, to trigger locks, to safes.

“There are plenty of options that you can use to keep small children away from firearms. Even keeping it on a high shelf, if you have a high shelf in your bedroom, you can keep the firearm there, if you want to keep it for easy access just in case of a home invasion or an emergency,” said Wallace.

There were crucial steps that weren’t taken, leaving a 4-year-old girl in critical condition.

Kitchens said: “You cannot leave a firearm laying around for a child to access. You know, as your children get older, teach them firearm safety, you know, let them understand, you do not go and pick this up. You do not play with this.”

In Georgia, a bill that would have made it mandatory to secure guns in the home never made it out of the subcommittee back in March.

The bill would set standards for gun owners and how they must store firearms where children could have access.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.