Metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta

Mom charged after toddler finds gun, shoots self at DeKalb hotel

Channel 2's Audrey Washington talked to police on the scene Monday morning.
By Ellen Eldridge
March 23, 2016

Police arrested a woman Wednesday, two days after her 2-year-old found her gun and shot himself, DeKalb police said.

Valencia Burks was at the Knights Inn on Panola Road in Lithonia when her son found a handgun in her purse about 2:30 a.m. Monday and accidentally shot himself in the abdomen, police said.

The family is from North Carolina and arrived at the DeKalb hotel Sunday evening, police said.

The toddler was rushed to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston in critical condition and immediately taken into surgery, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

He is continuing to improve and is expected to recover, DeKalb police Maj. Stephen Fore said.

Burks was charged with reckless conduct, a misdemeanor. If convicted, the maximum penalty is 12 months confinement and/or up to a $1,000 fine, Fore said.

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