4-year-old boy finds gun in mother's Steve Madden purse on kitchen island and fatally shoots himself above the eye: Deputies

A woman was put behind bars in Florida after her 4-year-old son found her gun in her purse and fatally shot himself in the head, according to law enforcement.

Diamond Phillips, 29, has been charged with culpable negligence involving a firearm, Manatee County court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

The child’s name has not been released by law enforcement.

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On June 21, the sheriff’s office responded to a home on Hidden Circle East in Sarasota after getting reports that a 4-year-old boy had shot himself.

Arriving deputies met with the child’s mother, Phillips, and grandmother, who indicated that the boy shot himself “using the mother’s gun,” according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

Though authorities cared for the boy, he was pronounced dead that day.

Deputies continued investigating, and they learned the boy had found the gun in his mother’s green Steve Madden purse, “which was located on the kitchen island,” the court document states.

“This conclusion is supported by the victim’s position at the scene where he was found lying” on his back “in front of the kitchen island with an apparent gunshot wound to the head above his left eye,” the affidavit reads.

The boy’s feet were also facing the kitchen island, “as if he fell back away from it,” authorities added. A bullet fragment was found in the ceiling above the boy’s body, the affidavit states.

When investigators spoke further with Phillips, she reportedly said she kept her Smith & Wesson in a zippered compartment of her purse without a holster.

“She advised that she normally carried the firearm loaded on her person in her purse for protection while away from home,” the charging document goes on.

The defendant continued, saying she “typically” put her purse on top of the kitchen island, microwave, or refrigerator so it was away from her children.

“The mother explained the children were not allowed to eat at the kitchen island and could only access the table by climbing onto the bar stools,” the affidavit continues.

According to Phillips, not long before the shooting, she heard the grandmother tell the kids “to stay off the stools and away from the island.” The victim’s 2-year-old brother was also in the area at the time.

Investigators determined that both the kitchen island and the purse were accessible to the children and thus a charge of culpable negligence involving a firearm was appropriate. Phillips was subsequently arrested.

Court records show the defendant posted bond on Wednesday, Sept. 23. She is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 6.

The post 4-year-old boy finds gun in mother’s Steve Madden purse on kitchen island and fatally shoots himself above the eye: Deputies first appeared on Law & Crime.