An 8-year-old girl was taken to a hospital Friday after accidentally shooting herself in Norfolk, police said. Her uncle was arrested and charged with felony child neglect.
Police described the girl’s injuries as “non-life threatening” in the initial news release and said Monday she is expected to recover.
Around 8 p.m. Friday night, officers responded to a report of a gunshot victim at a house on the 5700 block of Chesapeake Boulevard, in the Norview Heights neighborhood. There, they found the girl with a gunshot wound and took her to a hospital.
Preliminary investigation revealed the girl accidentally shot herself. Police found the firearm and arrested Alvonte L. Lawton, 22, Friday night.
A police spokesperson said Lawton is the girl’s uncle, but didn’t say whether the firearm belonged to him or how he came to be responsible for the girl that night.