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3-year-old girl shot herself in Kingsessing

A 3-year-old girl accidentally shot herself in the leg inside her family's Kingsessing home Sunday after adults failed to properly secure the handgun, according to police. Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives said the girl, who was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was expected to survive but may lose her leg.

Barbara McGill, left, and Terrance Williams, right, have been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and related counts for allegedly failing to secure a gun before Williams' 3-year-old daughter accidentally shot herself.
Barbara McGill, left, and Terrance Williams, right, have been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and related counts for allegedly failing to secure a gun before Williams' 3-year-old daughter accidentally shot herself.Read morePhiladelphia Police

A 3-year-old girl accidentally shot herself in the leg inside her family's Kingsessing home Sunday after adults failed to properly secure the handgun, according to police.

Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives said the girl, who was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was expected to survive but may lose her leg. The bullet ripped through her thigh and calf, Walker said.

On Monday, police said the girl's father, Terrance Williams, 25, and grandmother, Barbara McGill, 65, had each been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment. Williams owned the gun and had instructed McGill to place it in a secure holster when he left for work, which she did not do, Walker said.

McGill also faces a count of tampering with evidence for allegedly moving the gun and altering the scene after the girl —  whom police did not identify — shot herself.

"When you have children, you have a bigger responsibility to make sure that gun is put away," Walker said. "It's sick that we have little kids going to the hospital with gunshot wounds."

Police recovered the gun from the house on the 1300 block of South Wilton Street, where they were called just before noon on Sunday.

Walker said McGill and several other adults were in the house at the time of the shooting and that they were not initially forthcoming to police about what happened.

The incident marked the third shooting of a toddler in Philadelphia this fall.

A 3-year-old boy was critically wounded in October when one of his older brothers found a gun and shot the boy in the forehead. The boy's father, Sirhaven Williams, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person.

2-year-old boy fatally shot himself in the head in Olney on Nov. 9. Police said the shooting of Ibn-Kareem Lawson appeared to be accidental, and they did not anticipate charging anyone in his death. The gun used in that shooting had previously been reported stolen, police said, and after the shooting officers found it in a trash can behind his family's house.

The death of 4-year-old Sani Holmes, who shot herself  in June 2016 while playing with a gun at home in North Philadelphia, did lead to charges. Her mother, Shakeya, was sentenced in March to two to four years in state prison  for involuntary manslaughter and other charges. Her boyfriend, Demetrius Williams, awaits trial on similar charges.