A Florida mother faces a negligence charge after police determined that her four‑year‑old son discovered a firearm in her purse and unintentionally shot himself.
Diamond Phillips, 29, was taken into custody on Tuesday, September 22, according to court records reviewed by PEOPLE, following her son’s death on June 21.
Investigators from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office recorded in a probable‑cause affidavit, filed on August 28, that deputies responded to a Sarasota residence after receiving a report of a child who had shot himself.
The affidavit states that Phillips’s son climbed onto a kitchen stool, reached into his mother’s purse placed on a kitchen island, extracted a .380‑caliber Smith & Wesson pistol, and discharged the weapon into his own face.
Forensic and autopsy findings indicate that the child was likely aiming the barrel downward when the gun discharged, and a bullet fragment was recovered from the kitchen ceiling.
Investigators also discovered a spent cartridge casing lodged in the firearm’s ejection port and chamber, suggesting a stovepipe malfunction “likely caused by insufficient grip resistance during firing, which is consistent with a young child operating the firearm,” the sheriff’s office noted in the affidavit.
Phillips informed deputies at the scene that she stored the gun in a small compartment of her purse, according to the affidavit. She added that she had positioned the purse in the center of the kitchen island, believing it to be out of her children’s reach, and that the children were aware they were prohibited from climbing onto kitchen stools or eating at the counter.
The affidavit further reports that the boy’s grandmother, who was present at the time, warned the four‑year‑old,and his two‑year‑old brother, who was also in the kitchen,not to climb onto the counter shortly before the firearm discharged.
Phillips told detectives that she ordinarily kept the gun in the bottom zippered compartment of her purse without a holster, along with an extra magazine, “for protection while away from home,” the affidavit alleges. On the day of the incident, however, the firearm was loaded and “not otherwise secured” when she placed it on the kitchen island.
Phillips has been charged with culpable negligence involving a firearm accessible to a minor. She was released on September 23 on a $10,000 bond, according to jail records, and is scheduled to appear in court on November 6.
For guidance on safe firearm storage and effective strategies to protect children from unsecured weapons, visit BeSMARTforkids.org.
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