HANAHAN, S.C. (AP) — After an 11-year-old South Carolina boy fatally shot his 10-year-old sister as they played with a gun, their mother has been arrested.
The Post and Courier reports police say 30-year-old Bernadette Renae Owens is charged with unlawful conduct toward a child.
They say she left the children alone Oct. 5 in an unfurnished home littered with feces and food, and the loaded handgun was in a laundry basket on Owens’ bedroom floor.
Hanahan police say the children were playing with it when the girl, Cabriya Lucas, was shot. She died before police arrived. Owens was arrested the next day and released after posting $80,000 bail. Chief Dennis Turner says police delayed announcing the arrest while the investigation was ongoing.
Police declined to say who is caring for the boy.
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