Five-year-old Jada Willingham died after being struck in the face by a single gunshot while at a babysitter’s home on Madras Court in Lithonia, Georgia. Jada and another 5-year-old friend were playing when they found a loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun and, believing it was a toy, one of the children pulled the trigger. The babysitter, in the kitchen at the time, heard the shot and found Jada bleeding; she was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston Hospital and later died of her injuries.

DeKalb County investigators determined the firearm belonged to the mother of one of the other children in the home and had been left unattended in a bedroom. Authorities arrested 36-year-old Chad Brooks Sr., the father of one of the other children present, charging him with second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children for allegedly leaving the handgun accessible to minors. The shooting is a stark reminder of the dangers of unsecured firearms.

If anyone has information about the circumstances in that home or witnessed events that afternoon, please come forward.