A woman has been charged with child endangerment after a 7-year-old girl was accidentally shot by another child in a Far South Side home last week, according to Chicago police.
Police said Shataqua Elmore, 36, failed to secure a handgun and was charged with a misdemeanor count of child endangerment. A child found the gun and was playing with it when the gun went off Oct. 15 in a Calumet Heights home at 91st Street and Blackstone Avenue.
The 7-year-old girl was shot in the chest and was taken in critical condition to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was stabilized, police said.
Six other children were in the home at the time, according to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which has opened an investigation into possible neglect.
The agency initially said the children were being cared for by other relatives and friends “under a safety plan” after the incident, but no further details were available Monday morning.
Police would not specify Elmore’s relationship to either child involved in the incident. She is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 10.