Pregnant Mom Shot By Her 3-Year Old Daughter In NWI Parking Lot

MERRILLVILLE, IN — A pregnant mother was shot by one of her two young children inside a car parked in a Northwest Indiana parking lot Tuesday afternoon. Police in Merrillville first told the Times of Northwest Indiana that one of two kids, ages 3 and 4, got a hold of a loaded handgun around 3:52 p.m. and accidentally shot their mother.

It was a 3-year-old daughter of the mom, identified as 21-year-old Shaneque Thomas, who shot her one time in the upper torso, Fox-Chicago reported. Thomas was reported to be in critical but stable condition Tuesday night at a hospital in Merrillville.

Thomas and her two kids, who live in Michigan City, were inside a car parked near the entrance of Plato's Closet on 81st Avenue near the busy intersection of U.S. 30 and IN-53 at the time of the incident. A supervisor at the store said someone approached her about someone bleeding outside and she brought the children into the store while police were called.

The Fox report indicates the gun was left in the car by the father of the two children, who was identified in the report as 21-year-old Menzo Brazier. The weapon is a 9 millimeter handgun which the 3-year-old apparently climbed to the front seat to grab and pull the trigger.

"I walked outside and there was just blood falling everywhere," the supervisor at Plato's Closet told the Times.

Brazier was being held late Tuesday for child endangerment although no charges were immediately filed, according to Fox.

Both children have been taken into protective custody.

Patch file photo / Tim Moran