6-year-old Missouri girl accidentally killed by brother while parents at Christmas party

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A Missouri family is dealing with an unspeakable tragedy after their 6-year-old daughter was accidentally shot and killed by an older brother last Friday while their parents were out at a Christmas party.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Maliyah Palmer died after being shot in the head by her 12-year-old brother. The boy found a 9mm handgun in a dresser drawer in his parents’ bedroom, then accidentally shot Maliyah in the head, according to police in Florissant, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis.

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Maliyah and her brother were being watched by their 16-year-old sister at the time of the shooting. The shooting occurred around 11 p.m. on Friday night.

On Monday, Chief Timothy Lowery said an earlier press release announcing no charges was wrong. He said investigators will turn their findings over to prosecutors, who can decide what charges, if any, are filed.

“You couldn’t have written a more tragic script, the whole thing is just so tragic and terrible, but we have to put our personal feelings aside and do the law enforcement side of this,” Lowery said. “All of the officers who responded to the scene are mothers and fathers, so you can only imagine how personal it is to see a child shot in the back of the head.”

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Ed Magee, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Prosecutor, said police had not presented their findings to prosecutors as of Monday morning. In Missouri, parents have been charged in similar cases

Charges against negligent gun owners, such as first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, is a felony punishable in Missouri by up to seven years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Maliyah was a first-grader at Green Trails Elementary School in Chesterfield, said Parkway School District spokeswoman Cathy Kelly. The district brought additional counselors to the school on Monday morning to help classmates cope.