Mom Charged After Daughter, 6, Killed In Detroit Shooting With Unsecured Gun: Prosecutor

DETROIT — A Detroit woman is facing charges after her 6-year-old daughter was accidentally shot to death with an unsecured gun, according to prosecutors.

The shooting happened Monday at a strip mall near Gratiot and Harper in Detroit, prosecutors said.

Tonya Johnson, 41, was charged with safe gun storage violation, three counts of second-degree child abuse and four counts of felony firearm.

If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison for safe gun storage violation, up to 10 years each for second-degree child abuse and two years each for felony firearm.

Prosecutors said Johnson left four kids, ages 2-11, inside a car while she went inside a restaurant to pick up an order.

That's when prosecutors said Johnson's 11-year-old son found an unsecured gun in the car and fired it, striking his 6-year-old sister in the head and killing her.

One of the kids went into the store and tried to grab Johnson, but police said it was too late.

"The alleged facts of this case are among the worst child safe storage cases that we have seen. This will affect these children forever. The loss of the life of one of their siblings in a closed compartment of the defendant’s car cannot be unseen," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.