DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A 2-year-old girl was shot Sunday morning inside a Daytona Beach apartment, according to police.
The shooting was reported around 10:50 a.m. in the 500 block of Jean Street.
Officers said when they arrived, a neighbor was holding a 2-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to her lower right leg, according to an arrest affidavit.
The girl was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center and was expected to be transferred to Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando for further treatment. Her injuries are non-life-threatening.
Davesha Pough, told officers she and the girl were lying in bed when she heard two gunshots and saw blood coming from the child’s leg. She initially told officers no one fired a gun from inside her apartment and thought the gunshot came from outside the back window, according to police.
Police found what seemed like ammunition on the floor near the bed and did not find any broken windows or evidence that a bullet came from outside of the apartment, according to the affidavit. Officers determined the bullet was fired from inside the apartment.
Officers also spoke to Pough’s boyfriend, Cashaod Williams, who initially gave a fake name to investigators. He told officers he was outside and on the phone during the incident when he heard a gunshot in the distance.
Williams told officers that he has been living with Pough and her two children on and off for the past three months. He told them Pough is three months pregnant with his child, according to investigators.
The 22-year-old denied having any firearms in the apartment.
After a search, detectives found three firearms and ammunition inside the apartment. One gun was found under the mattress of Pough and Williams’ room. The other two guns were found inside an open backpack in Pough’s son’s room.
Pough told detectives Williams recently got a gun from a friend, and the guns found inside her six-year-old son’s room belonged to Williams. The mother told detectives Williams was the only person who stepped foot in the bedroom after the shooting and stored the guns inside her son’s backpack.
She later admitted to officers that she believes her daughter got ahold of a firearm and accidentally shot herself in the leg, according to the arrest affidavit.
Pough now faces child neglect charges.
Williams also faces charges for giving a false name and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. His criminal history revealed he has been arrested for 11 felonies with 8 convictions.