LINCOLN PARK, Mich. – A Lincoln Park man has been charged after his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter shot herself with his gun, according to authorities.
Skylar Johnston was playing with her 5- and 2-year old siblings around 1:40 p.m. Nov. 19 in a trailer located in the 3070 block of Dix Avenue in Lincoln Park, police said.
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Officials said Steven Michael Johnston, 26, shares the trailer with his 29-year-old girlfriend, the mother of the three children.
Police said the three children were playing in Johnston’s room where he had left an unsecured, loaded handgun. Skylar found the gun and discharged it, shooting herself in the head, according to authorities.
“I was in disbelief," Skylar’s grandmother, Theresa Long, said. “I couldn’t believe it. You don’t ever think those things are going to happen to the people that you love. It doesn’t look good.”
Long said her daughter wasn’t home at the time of the shooting.
Officers found the girl in the bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. She was rushed to a nearby hospital by medical officials while in critical condition, police said.
Skylar is still receiving treatment for her head injury, authorities said.
Johnston is charged with three counts of second-degree child abuse, which each carry maximum penalties of 10 years in prison. He is expected to be arraigned Wednesday at 25th District Court in Lincoln Park.
“My only concern is the safety of my three grandchildren,” Long said.