A 4-year-old boy died in June after he found a loaded handgun tucked inside his mother's purse on a kitchen island in Sarasota, Florida, and fatally shot himself in the head. Months later, his mother, 29-year-old Diamond Phillips, was arrested and charged with culpable negligence involving a firearm.
According to Law&Crime, the boy shot himself using his mother's gun on June 21. Deputies found him lying on his back in front of the kitchen island with an apparent gunshot wound above his left eye, and he was pronounced dead that same day. As Us Weekly reports, the boy had found the weapon inside his mother's green Steve Madden purse, which was sitting on the island.
Phillips told investigators she kept her Smith & Wesson in a zippered compartment of the purse without a holster, per the same account. She said she normally carried the gun loaded for protection when she was away from home, and that she typically placed the purse on top of the kitchen island, the microwave, or the refrigerator specifically to keep it away from her children.
Bar Stools Gave the Children a Way Up
Phillips said her children were not allowed to eat at the kitchen island, but the report notes they could still reach the table by climbing onto the bar stools nearby. She told investigators she had heard the children's grandmother warn them to stay off the stools and away from the island shortly before the shooting occurred.
Investigators ultimately determined that both the kitchen island and the purse were accessible to the children, and concluded that a charge of culpable negligence involving a firearm was appropriate. The child's name has not been released by law enforcement.
Arrest Came Months After the Shooting
Phillips, listed in some reports as Diamond Sharee'Nicole Phillips, was arrested September 22 on the culpable negligence charge, according to Classic Country 104.5. She was released the following day on a $10,000 bond. Per Tampa Free Press, Phillips posted bond on September 23 and is scheduled for arraignment on November 6.
What Florida Law Requires
Florida law generally requires that a firearm be kept in a securely locked box or container, in a location reasonably believed to be secure, or fitted with a trigger lock, whenever someone knows or reasonably should know a minor may gain access to it, according to the Florida Legislature. Under that same storage statute, a violation where a minor accesses and possesses or exhibits the firearm is classified as a second-degree misdemeanor. A separate provision covering cases where a minor obtains a loaded firearm and uses it to cause injury or death makes that offense a third-degree felony, with the law defining a minor as anyone under 16. That statute also specifies that no arrest may be made under that subsection before seven days have passed since the shooting.
Broader public-health data cited at low confidence by the CDC notes that secure storage, such as a safe or lock box, can help prevent children and others from gaining unauthorized access to firearms. It remains unclear whether Phillips has entered a plea or retained legal counsel since her arrest.
