A woman had to be airlifted to hospital after her granddaughter allegedly shot her.
The 57-year-old woman was driving along Tollefson Avenue in Florida when her six-year-old granddaughter allegedly grabbed hold of a firearm from the back seat on Thursday (16 February).
According to North Port Police, the weapon was in a holster that had been tucked in the back pocket of the driver's seat at the time.
The grandmother has apparently recently been to a gun range, and had left it in the car.
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After pulling the gun out, the little girl accidentally shot through the seat, with the bullet going into the woman's lower back.
Incredibly, she was able to drive the car back home, where she then called 911.
The gran was then airlifted to Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota with non-threatening injuries.
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Officer Josh Taylor said the woman was lucky to be alive.
He said: "A matter of inches, pointing the gun a different direction, we could have had more serious injuries to the grandmother, the child could have been injured.
"You name it. Anything could have happened there. So obviously it’s a very dangerous situation."
Detectives subsequently opened an investigation into the incident, interviewing the child and others about what happened.
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The authorities later said that the explanations 'corroborated an accidental discharge'.
Speaking about the shooting, North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said: “This is an unfortunate example of the importance of gun safety.
"Please take appropriate measures to make sure children cannot access firearms.
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"This could have been much worse, not only for the grandmother, but for the child.
"Thankfully, it appears that everyone is going to be okay,” says North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison.
In a post to its Facebook account, the police department said the investigation was ongoing.
Last month, a woman was arrested after her daughter wrote a story for her kindergarten class in which she claimed that her mum pulled a gun out and shot her dad during an argument at their home.
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Kaydra Johnson, 28, from Tennessee, was picked up by officers from Shelby County Sheriff’s Office on Monday (6 February) and charged with four counts of reckless endangerment after allegedly firing the gun at their home, which had the couple’s four children inside at the time.
Police said they were first alerted to incident when a school counselor Donelson Elementary discovered a story by the couple’s young daughter, which described a fight breaking out between her parents and shots being fired.
Dominic Smithers