3-Year-Old Boy Shoots 2-Year-Old Girl, Critical Condition

POLK COUNTY, FL — A 2-year-old girl was shot by a 3-year-old boy just before midnight at a Lakeland home when three men who had them in their care were watching a basketball game, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

The boy found a handgun in the home that belonged to one of the two suspects, 23-year-old Kevonte Wilson, and shot the girl in her upper left chest, authorities said. As Wilson, the second suspect, Chad Berrien, 24, and a 23-year-old friend of the suspects took the victim to the hospital, the car they were in got into a crash at Olive Street and Oregon Avenue in Lakeland at 12:15 a.m., according to police.

A Good Samaritan near the crash took the girl to a nearby hospital. She as last listed in critical but stable condition at Lakeland Regional Health, detectives said. Her internal organs suffered severe injuries.

The girl's mother told investigators that the two children were supposed to at her home in the area of South Wabash Avenue and Ariana Street.

"It can’t be stressed enough, if you have firearms in your home, keep them away from children," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "A beautiful little girl is fighting for her life right now because another child who didn’t know any better was able to get his hands on a loaded gun.”

According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Wilson faces charges of carrying a concealed firearm and failure to safely store a firearm. Berrien was arrested on four outstanding warrants, which include the following charges: failure to appear for battery, failure to appear for resisting without violence, failure to appear for driving while license suspended and failure to appear for driving on a suspended license.