Six-year-old Aletha Amanii Marie Burke of Sanford, Florida, died on March 1, 2016, after a loaded pistol discharged while she was playing on the living room floor of a family member’s house. Aletha found the firearm under a couch; the gun fired as she picked it up, the bullet passing through her shoulder and exiting near her bottom. She was taken to the hospital by Erick Dominick Williams, the family member who had been babysitting her, but she died shortly after arrival.

Erick Dominick Williams was arrested and charged with child neglect and unsafe storage of a firearm, and with possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. Williams had a criminal record dating back to 1999 that included cocaine trafficking, marijuana possession, and fleeing police; reports state he had not served prison time in Florida. Sanford police publicized the dangers of unsecured firearms, offered free gun locks, and organized gun-safety courses after the incident. A separate accidental shooting involving a child and an unsecured gun occurred in Sanford about a week earlier and the child survived.

If anyone knew Aletha or has information about the circumstances that allowed a loaded pistol to be accessible in that home, please come forward.