On Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2021, five-year-old Khalis Eberhart was fatally shot inside an apartment at The Garden of Camp Creek in South Fulton, Georgia. Family members say a three-year-old cousin found a loaded handgun that had been left unsecured under a sofa cushion; the child’s father, who was Khalis’s uncle, owned the firearm. Khalis was shot in the chest, rushed into the arms of paramedics by her father, Nathaniel Eberhart, and was transported to a hospital where she died.

South Fulton Police investigators determined the shooting to be accidental. No arrests were made immediately; the Fulton County District Attorney’s office was reported to be reviewing whether charges would be brought. The city began gun safety efforts including distributing free gun locks. Khalis’s family held a candlelight vigil and remembered her as smart, outgoing, and close to her twin sibling.

If anyone was at the apartment that day or has information about how the gun came to be left unsecured, please come forward.