Mother claims she accidentally shot teen daughter dead after ‘gun fired as she rummaged for keys in purse’

A mother has claimed that she accidentally shot and killed her 13-year-old daughter when her gun simply “went off” as she was rummaging in her purse for her keys.

Dearria Radley was shot inside her home in Nashville on Saturday night.

Officers from the Midtown Hills Precinct responded to a 911 call just before 10pm and began giving immediate life-saving aid to the teenager, the Metro Nashville Police Department said in a news release.

The 13-year-old was rushed to Vanderbilt’s Pediatric Emergency Room but succumbed to her injuries in hospital.

Her mother DeAnn Radley has claimed that her death was an accident.

She told police investigators that her unholstered .40 calibre semi-automatic pistol was in her purse with other items.

She was trying to find her keys in her purse when the gun accidentally went off and the bullet struck and killed her teenage daughter.

“I didn’t know my gun was loaded in my purse and shot through my bag,” she told WSMV through tears. “Then I saw the blood.”

Ms Radley said that her “whole world is falling apart” and she is now living in a “nightmare”.

“My world is just falling apart,” she told WSMV . “I loved that little girl so much.”

Ms Radley paid tribute to her daughter who loved to sing.

“I want her to be remembered by that angel voice and those beautiful eyes,” she said.

“This is something I’m not ready for. Please, my baby … I just want to hold my baby.”

Ms Radley also told WKRN that the past few days have “hurt so much.”

“I feel empty inside, empty,” she said. “Like I tell everybody, you don’t know pain until you lose a child and that pain is a whole different type of pain and that pain will never go away.”

No charges have yet been filed inthe case and the police department’s Youth Services Division is continuing to investigate.