Newly released 911 calls reveal the frantic, tragic scene that unfolded after a 2-year-old girl shot herself with a loaded gun late last month.
Luis Appolon, 33, is facing a charge of manslaughter, jail records show. He has since been released from jail.
On May 27, Appolon called 911 telling the operator a child was shot with a handgun — Broward Sheriff deputies found the 2-year-old girl injured in an apartment in Pompano Beach, the sheriff’s office said. She was pronounced dead an hour later.
Appolon told detectives he was lying on the couch in the living room when the little girl, who is his daughter, and other children were in other rooms. The night before, he hid his 9mm Smith and Weston handgun under the cushion of the couch.
He heard a shot go off and then saw the girl injured, deputies said. Appolon believes that the girl went under the coach and somehow shot the gun.
However, Appolon gave a different story to the 911 operator.
“We need an ambulance,” a man’s voice told operators as screaming and crying could be heard in the background.
According to an arrest report, he said on the call that he got up from the couch to use the bathroom and then heard a gunshot go off. When he went back to the living room he found his daughter shot.
Detectives decided to charge Appolon as he placed the gun in a place where his daughter could reach, causing her death, the report stated.