KTRK-TV(HOUSTON) — A 19-year-old was taking a video of herself with a gun when she allegedly shot her 10-year-old nephew by accident, according to Texas authorities.
Caitlyn Smith, 19, has been arrested as her nephew recovers, Deputy Thomas Gilliland, spokesman with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC News on Thursday.
The boy was is in stable condition Thursday, said Gilliland.
The shooting unfolded on Tuesday when Smith was babysitting the boy at a home in Harris County, according to Gilliland.
She recorded herself holding the gun, and then went to disengage the magazine from the pistol, Gilliland said.
But her finger was allegedly on the trigger, so when she pulled to eject the magazine, the gun fired, striking the 10-year-old in the abdomen, said Gilliland.
Smith was charged Wednesday night with serious bodily injury to a child — a second-degree felony, said Gilliland.
He said Smith was not charged until officials had a better sense of the boy’s prognosis.
“Weapons are not meant to be props in selfies or any type of videoing,” Gilliland said, adding that the teen “could have caused a homicide.”
Smith has not yet appeared in court, said Gilliland.
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