4-Year-Old Shoots Herself, Parents Refuse to Get Her Medical Care

A 4-year-old in Gwinnett County, Georgia shot herself in a motel and her parents were arrested for refusing to get her medical care for her gunshot wound.

By: A.J. Niles

 

Parents are strongly advised to keep guns out of reach of their children. They are extremely dangerous and children can seriously hurt themselves or worse, lose their lives to a bad accident. The former is what happened in a motel room in Gwinnett County, Georgia when a 4-year-old injured herself when she accidentally fired off a gun she found in the hotel room.

Normally, when a child injures themselves, the child’s parents will seek out medical care to get treatment for the child. However, the parents of the 4-year-old shot, 21-year-old Tyshonna Mercedez Blades and 20-year-old Thomas Charles Sumlin, refused to do this.

According toAtlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC),

The child, her two siblings and her parents were renting a room in a Days Inn hotel near Stone Mountain when the girl appears to have found a handgun and shot herself June 4, police reports obtained by the AJC state. The bullet apparently grazed the girl’s abdomen, according to police.

Thomas convinced Tyshonna not to seek medical help because she may have committed a crime. The Gwinnett Police Department tells the AJC:

“[Tyshonna] said Mr. Sumlin convinced her not to contact police due to her going to jail and her other children being taken away from her.”

Two days later, a friend of the parents notified police when she learned of what happened. Thomas tells police that the 4-year-old found the gun behind a bed in the room they were staying in. However, Gwinnett County Police have another story.

In the home of Thomas Sumlin, police supposedly found a holster for the gun and possibly a bullet that may have injured the child.

In an interview with WSB Channel 2 in Atlanta, Sumlin said he had nothing to hide, and that he didn’t believe his daughter’s injury was serious enough to warrant medical treatment.

“This happened by accident, and I didn’t want any problems to come, but it turned into something way different,” Sumlin said.

Sumlin’s mother, Deanna Edwards, also was arrested for allegedly trying to prevent investigators from talking to her son, according to police.

 

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