ASHLAND, Ohio (AP) — A prosecutor alleges that an 8-year-old Ohio boy loaded a rifle, repeatedly shot his 4-year-old sister at home and then informed their mother, who left work to check the girl’s injuries, cleaned up a bloody bed cover and then returned to work, leaving the children alone again.
The woman, 27-year-old Alyssa Edwards, is jailed on child endangerment charges related to the Saturday shooting in Hayesville, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) southwest of Cleveland.
Her assigned attorney, Donald Wick, said Tuesday that he had just received the case and couldn’t yet comment.
An arraignment is scheduled Wednesday for Edwards. She tearfully appeared for court Monday via video and said that there was no information that a magistrate needed to consider before he set her bond at $30,000, The Ashland Times-Gazette reported .
Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell said Edwards took the girl to a hospital hours after the shooting because she had a leaking wound, and the hospital contacted police.
The 4-year-old girl who was shot was in stable condition Monday at a children’s hospital in Cleveland. Ashland County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Carl Richert said the girl’s injuries weren’t considered life-threatening. No other details about the injuries have been released.
The 8-year-old boy was in the custody of children’s services.
Tunnell said the rifle used in the shooting was kept in a gun locker with other firearms, and the boy knew how to open the locker if it was locked.
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