Two people in Bartow County, including a grandmother, are now charged with murder after a child shot herself at a campsite Saturday, officials said.
Kimberly Anne Roberts, 47, and James Phillip Lillie, 50, were previously charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the incident, according to Bartow sheriff’s office spokesman Investigator Jonathan White.
“Lillie and Roberts being convicted felons and possessing a firearm, which later caused the death of the child, led to the application of murder charges under Georgia law,” White said in a news release Wednesday.
The shooting happened at a campsite on Chitwood Cove in the Wilderness Camp Road area about 8:30 p.m., AJC.com previously reported.
MORE: 'A gunshot and a whimper': Grandmother, man charged after child fatally shoots herself
According to a sheriff’s incident report, the adults had just returned to their tent to go to sleep after a night of drinking. About 10 minutes later, they “heard a gunshot and a whimper,” they told authorities.
Investigators determined the child shot herself in the head while playing with a pistol. A nurse in the area was able to start CPR on the child before she was rushed to a hospital.
She was pronounced dead at the hospital. Her name and age have not been released.
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While Roberts was the victim’s grandmother, Lillie has no known relation to the child, officials said.
Both Roberts and Lillie were taken to the Bartow County Jail, where they remain.
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