New Orleans girl, 5, home alone, shoots self to death: Police

NEW ORLEANS Police say a 5-year-old girl fatally shot herself when her mother locked her inside their home and went to the store.

The New Orleans Police Department said in a news release the girl was home alone Sunday, somehow found her mother's revolver, and accidentally shot herself in the head. The mother, 28-year-old Laderika Smith, will be booked on a charge of second-degree murder. Police say her negligence resulted in the death of her daughter.

Upon returning home from the store, police say Smith found her daughter lying on a bedroom floor with a gunshot wound. She died at a hospital.

Family members say the gun belongs to friend and was being kept on the top shelf of a closet, reports CBS New Orleans affiliate WWL-TVM.

"You have to think first if you got kids in the house; anything can happen. Kids do climb and things do happen," Smith's cousin, Veranda Williams, told WWL.

The jail's website listed Smith's birthday as Sunday. It wasn't immediately clear whether she had an attorney. A call to the jail was not immediately returned.