HOBART, Ind. (AP/WSVN) — Prosecutors have filed neglect and reckless homicide charges against the father of a 9-year-old northwestern Indiana girl shot to death when his firearm accidentally discharged.
The Lake County Prosecutor’s Office said Monday that Eric Scott Hummel of Hobart faces a total of five felony charges in the fatal shooting of Olivia Hummel.
The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports family members told police the father was showing a firearm to his sons. Before the gun went off, Hummel had told his two sons not to play with the gun because “it can kill,” police said.
He told the boys “never use a gun” and “this is why” before he pointed it at his daughter, who had just walked into the room, and shot her in the head, Fox 32 reports.
When Hummel called his wife to tell her what happened, she told police she dropped the phone and started screaming.
“I shot her. I’m so sorry,” Hummel said his wife as he cried, according to Fox 32. “It was so stupid.”
The father was being held at the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of Chicago.
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