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Young Girl Finds Gun Under Grandma's Pillow In Detroit, Kills Self

DETROIT (WWJ) — Detroit police are questioning a woman after her five-year old granddaughter apparently shot and killed herself with a gun. It happened overnight at a home on Oakfield, near Pembroke and the Southfield Freeway on the city's west side.

The child, identified by relatives as Mariah Davis, apparently found the gun under her grandmother's pillow.

Mariah Davis Girl killed in Detroit
(Photo, courtesy of the family)

Detroit police Sgt. Michael Woody says in an email that police responded around midnight Tuesday to a home on the city's northwest side and the girl was taken by medics to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police say the girl was 4 years old. Family members at the scene report the girl was 5 years old.

Family members told WWJ the child loved Disney movies.

"It was an awful tragedy that has all of us shook up and our heart broke," her aunt Freda Davis told WWJ 950's Mike Campbell. Davis added: "It seems like our souls was ripped out of us, she was a lovely little girl, all she loved to do was sing."

According to the initial investigation, police say the girl found the gun in an upstairs bedroom and shot herself while the grandmother was downstairs. Police say two other young children, ages 1 and 3, also were upstairs at the time. They weren't injured.

The shooting is under investigation. No word yet if anyone will face charges.

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