A 4-year-old Grovetown girl has died, one month after shooting herself in the head with a loaded gun left on the floor by her father, authorities said.
Phoenix Daniels, 4, died at a local hospital, where she had been since May 29 when she was injured, according to Grovetown Police Chief Jamey Kitchens.
Her father, 24-year-old Daveon Daniels, remains in jail under no bond for child cruelty, possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Charges are expected to be upgraded to second-degree murder with his daughter’s death.
The shooting happened around 5:40 p.m. on Memorial Day at a residence on the 5000 block of Starlington Drive. Daniels was there with his sister and his sister’s boyfriend as well as a few other children in another room of the residence at Sterlington Apartments.
“Mr. Daniels admitted to placing a loaded 9mm Glock handgun on the floor of the residence while he went downstairs to take a phone call,” Chief Kitchens said in a press release. “A short time later, he heard a gunshot and ran upstairs to find the child suffering from a wound to the head. Mr. Daniels and a family member then placed the child in the vehicle and began driving to the hospital when they encountered the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office unit.”
Daniels is a felon on probation after his conviction in September for possessing a stolen gun in Kentucky. He also has an outstanding warrant out of Sandersville, Georgia, for theft by receiving stolen property.
“This incident was totally avoidable,” Chief Kitchens said last month.
