3-year-old boy accidentally shoots mother to death

A three-year-old naive boy has accidentally shot and killed his 29-year-old mother Daejah Bennett, after picking up a gun and shooting her with it.

The incident happened at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 12, after the kid found a gun while the family were sitting inside their car in a parking lot, in south suburban Dolton.

The father of the boy Romell Watson, 23, is now facing a misdemeanour gun charge following the shooting.

Police said the father was in the driver’s seat, the mother in the passenger seat and the boy in a car seat in the back after they had been shopping at a Food 4 Less, in the community about 20 miles south of Chicago.

“He somehow got a hold of the gun and began playing with it in a playful manner, pointed the gun and fired the shot,” Police chief Collins said.

A bullet struck Bennett in the neck, the chief said. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Dolton Police Chief Robert Collins Jr. said Watson, who was detained after the shooting, will be charged with unlawful use of a weapon.