Janiyah Jenkins, an Atlanta, Georgia four-year old, found her uncle’s loaded and unsecured gun in her home and shot herself in the leg.  The round passed into her intestines and Janiyah died at the hospital. 

Janiyah’s uncle, LeVante Cummings, age 26, was arrested and charged with second degree murder and cruelty to a child.  He was asleep at the time of the incident and Janiyah was in the care of her mother, who had just given Janiyah and three siblings a bath.

Janiyah’s mom, Jessica Jenkins, wants the charges against her brother dropped.  “It’s an accident. She pulled that trigger. My brother helped my baby. My brother loved my baby,” she  said.

Jessica Jenkins added that her daughter “was fun, funny, happy, she helped and she was real close to her twin brother.”

Source:

Aungelique Proctor, “Mother of Child Killed by Unsecured Gun Wants Brother’s Charges Dropped,”  Fox 5 Atlanta (March 29, 2022).