Tennessee mother accidentally shoots and kills 13-year-old daughter while rummaging through her purse for her keys
A Nashville teenager has died after her mother accidentally shot her with an unholstered gun while digging through her purse to find her keys.
Dearria Radley Cooper, 13, was fatally shot on Saturday night inside the Edgehill Avenue home she shared with her mother, De’Ann Radley.
Radley told police that she had been rummaging through her handbag in search of her keys. In the bag she also kept a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, which accidentally discharged.
Midtown Hills Precinct officers responded to a 911 call just before 10 pm and delivered first aid to the 13-year-old before she was taken to Vanderbilt’s Pediatric Emergency Room.
There, she died of a single gunshot, police said.
Dearria Radley Cooper, 13, was fatally shot Saturday night in her Nashville home after an unholstered pistol in her mother’s handbag went off
Dearria’s mother, De’Ann Radley, told police that she had been searching for her keys when the gun accidentally fired. ‘Thirteen years and my baby is gone. I want my baby back,’ she sobbed in a video uploaded the day after her daughter’s death
Police responded to a 911 call at 9:58 pm and rendered aid to the teenager before she was taken to the emergency room, where she later died
Radley left a string of posts on Facebook the day after her daughter’s death.
She also recorded a video of herself sitting in the backseat of a car with tears streaking down her face.
‘I don’t wish this for nobody,’ she said between sobs. ‘Nobody, I wouldn’t wish this on nobody. My baby, my baby is gone.’
‘Thirteen years. Thirteen years and my baby is gone. I want my baby back.
‘We been through everything together and my baby gone, my heart gone.’
Among the photos she shared was an old picture of her holding and kissing baby Dearria.
‘Hug your babies tight because I lost mine, words can’t describe this pain,’ Radley wrote, referring to Dearria as ‘my twin, my heart.’
‘My baby was so beautiful, God give me the strength, I wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone,’ she continued. ‘My heart is in a million pieces. Bug, wake up, mommy needs you.
‘Who is going to tell me momma, it’s gonna be okay and hugging me and wiping my tears away…Dearria, I need you, I can’t do this.’
The middle schooler, nicknamed ‘Bug’ by her family, died of a single gunshot from a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol
‘Hug your babies tight because I lost mine, words can’t describe this pain,’ Radley wrote on Facebook one day after Dearria’s death
Grandmother Irish Radley requested prayers for the family and wrote that her heart felt as though it had been ripped out of her chest
It is unclear if Radley will face charges in connection to her daughter’s death, as no charges have been filed yet
Dearria’s grandmother, Irish Radley, took to Facebook with a message of her own.
‘My heart feels like it’s been ripped out my chest,’ she wrote one day after the middle schooler’s death.
‘Please say a prayer for my family, we are going through it right now, my oldest grandbaby passed away last night.’
She signed off with a message to her granddaughter: ‘Granny loves you, Bug.’
On Sunday, Radley set up a GoFundMe to cover her daughter’s funeral expenses.
‘My 13-year-old was accidentally shot and killed, I don’t have insurance to bury her, if anyone can help me during these painful times I would gladly appreciate your contribution,’ she wrote.
No charges have been filed in connection to Dearria’s death at present, police said. The department’s Youth Services Division is spearheading an investigation, which is ongoing.
In Tennessee, gun buyers are provided a firearm lock at the time of purchase.
However, a new law that went into effect last November states that Tennessee’s Department of Safety must provide gun owners with locks upon request, regardless of purchase.
