BALTIMORE — We're learning more about a shooting that left a 9-year-old girl critically wounded in Northwest Baltimore.
Police have arrested and charged the child's grandmother, 51-year-old Alethea Mitchell.
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It all began Saturday in the 3500 block of Ingleside Avenue.
Officers discovered the child in a bedroom suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.
BPD Commissioner Richard Worley comments after the tragic incident.
Investigators later found a pink diamond 9mm handgun with one live round where the child was found.
Mitchell told detectives she left for work around 7:45 am while her granddaughter was still asleep on the couch.
A review of cameras installed in Mitchell's living and dining room shows the child waking up around 10:30am.
The two last spoke to each other through the cameras around 12:45 pm.
Just before 2:00 pm Mitchell texted her granddaughter, asking if she was hungry but got no response.
Upon arriving home at 3:00 pm, Mitchell noticed no one downstairs.
That's when she went upstairs and found her granddaughter lying in blood.
Mitchell initially thought the child cut herself, since she saw a pair of scissors on the bed.
After trying to wake her granddaughter up, Mitchell said she found the gun underneath the child's body.
Mitchell claims to have called 911 before moving the gun and magazine into a tote.
After telling police the gun belonged to her ex-boyfriend, it turns out the gun was stolen out of North Carolina in November of 2017.
Mitchell is also prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior burglary and drug convictions.
She's currently charged with firearm access by a minor, firearm possession with a felony conviction, possession of a stolen firearm, and other handgun-related charges.
“An innocent child is fighting for their life because this individual illegally and irresponsibly possessed a gun. They not only shouldn’t have had a gun in the first place, but couldn’t be bothered to keep their own family safe," said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. "This is exactly the reason why we will continue to do everything in our power to get illegal guns off our streets, and why we will work so hard to hold those who shouldn’t have access to these weapons responsible to the fullest extent of the law when they get their hands on them.”
A similar case occurred in 2022 when a 9-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed 15-year-old Nykayla Strawder.
The gun was registered to the boy's grandmother, April Gaskins, who reportedly worked as an armed security guard.
MORE: Woman charged after young grandson used her gun to kill Nykayla Strawder
“This incident is yet another heartbreaking tragedy involving an innocent child shot due to a guardian irresponsibly possessing a stolen gun and failing to prioritize gun safety and security,” said Police Commissioner Richard Worley.“It is both infuriating and, most importantly, preventable. The men and women of the BPD remain committed to removing illegal guns from our city and promoting the secure and responsible storage of firearms to prevent such senseless tragedies.”