A 21-year-old woman was arrested in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood Tuesday evening after a child apparently found a gun in her purse and shot a 4-year-old girl in the leg.
The girl was taken to Regions Hospital with a nonlife threatening gunshot wound to her left leg, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a police spokesman.
The incident occurred about 6:38 p.m. in an apartment in the 700 block of 3rd St. E. A woman who answered the door at the building Wednesday morning said the girl was OK, and declined further comment.
According to police: witnesses said that a 7-year-old found the gun in a woman's purse in a playroom. The older child was playing with the gun when it discharged and struck the 4-year-old.
Officers who arrived at the scene placed a tourniquet on the girl's leg to control the bleeding, and she was transported to the hospital.
The relationship between the children and the woman are unclear, Ernster said, adding that many of the details remain under investigation.
Ernster said other adults and juveniles were home at the time.
The woman was arrested for probable cause child endangerment with a firearm, negligent storage of a firearm and for possession of cocaine. She has not been charged.
