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Sunday, December 11, 2011

GTV NEWS: (TOP STORY) Infant shot in face, man arrested

An 11-month-old girl was shot in the face early Friday morning, and the 19-year-old now charged with the crime said it was an accident. 

Jonathon James Mitchell, 19, was arraigned Friday afternoon on a charge of Careless Discharge Weapon Causing Injury or Death, a misdemeanor punishable for up to two years behind bars. 

The incident happened around 1:30 a.m. Friday at an apartment in the 800 block of Nagold Street NW. 

Officers responded and saw a woman holding the injured child on the front porch. The child was bleeding from the head, police said in a statement. She was taken to the hospital for treatment to non-life-threatening injuries, police told 24 Hour News 8. 

Police told 24 Hour News 8 a young man fired a birdshot round from a shotgun that went through a wall and hit the girl while she was in a playpen. The statement said she was in a first-floor bedroom at the time. 

The alleged shooter, Mitchell, fled the home before officers arrived. Police tracked him down about an hour later in the 1000 block of Weiland Place NW and took him into custody. 

Mitchell's mother told 24 Hour News 8, "I feel so bad for the family. Prayers go out to her." She asked that we not show her face. "It really bothers me the baby got injured."

She said Mitchell was watching the infant for the girl's mother. 

He told police he thought he heard a noise, grabbed the shotgun and it accidentally fired, went through a wall, with bird shot hitting the baby's head. 

While the girl recovers, Mitchell's mom understands the serious charges her son faces, and expects him to serve some time behind bars. He's on probation for a felony, assault with a dangerous weapon. 

"He will probably serve some jail time, and that's reasonable," his mother said. "You're responsible for every action that you take, regardles of it it's an accident or not.

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