Florida mother charged after four-year-old son fatally shoots himself with gun from her purse

She thought the gun was out of reach.

It was tucked inside her purse, sitting on the kitchen island, and she believed her children could not get to it.

But her four-year-old son climbed onto a stool, reached into the bag and pulled out the loaded handgun.

Seconds later, he was dead.

Florida mother Diamond Phillips has now been charged with culpable negligence over the June 21 death of her son at the family home in Sarasota in Florida in the US.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the boy found a loaded .380 Smith & Wesson pistol inside him mum’s purse and accidentally shot himself.

Deputies were called to the home after reports a child had shot himself.

Ms Phillips and the boy’s grandmother told investigators that the child had used his mother’s gun.

The four-year-old was treated by emergency crews but could not be saved.

The investigation would reveal a series of details that led to Ms Phillips’ arrest three months later.

The 29-year-old told investigators that she carried the handgun for protection when she was away from home.

She normally kept it in a bottom zippered compartment of her purse, without a holster, along with an extra magazine.

She said she believed the purse was inaccessible to her children because it was on the kitchen island and the kids were not allowed to climb on the stools.

But on the day of the shooting, the gun was loaded and unsecured inside the bag.

Investigators say the grandmother had warned the four-year-old and his two-year-old brother not to climb on the counter shortly before the shooting.

The boy climbed onto one of the stools anyway.

Investigators and autopsy findings indicated that he was likely looking down the barrel when the gun discharged.

A bullet fragment was later found lodged in the kitchen ceiling.

Investigators also found a spent cartridge casing lodged in the gun’s ejection port and chamber.

They said the firing of the gun was consistent with the insufficient grip resistance of a young child operating the firearm.

Ms Phillips was arrested on September 22 and charged with culpable negligence involving a firearm accessible to a minor.

She was released the following day after posting $10,000 bond.

She is due back in court for an arraignment on November 6.

Florida law requires a loaded firearm left where a minor is likely to gain access to be kept in a securely locked container, a location reasonably considered secure or secured with a trigger lock, subject to exceptions.