Gwinnett Daily Post

STONE MOUNTAIN -- A pair of Gwinnett County parents have been arrested after their 4-year-old daughter reportedly shot herself in the stomach -- and they didn't take her for treatment.

Thomas Charles Sumlin, 20, of Snellville and Tyshonna Mercedez Blades, 21, of Norcross were arrested this week and charged with child cruelty. According to Gwinnett County police incident report, the parents and their three children were renting a room at the Days Inn Motel on Glenn Club Drive in Stone Mountain when the accident occurred.

At about 12:30 p.m. on June 6, one of the couple's daughters, who had just turned 4 years old a few days prior, found a handgun belonging to Sumlin in the room. The girl fired the gun accidentally and "received a grazing bullet wound to her abdomen area," police said.

Blades called Sumlin, who was not in the room at the time. When he returned, he "convinced her not to contact the police due to her going to jail and her other children being taken away from her," police said.

Blades was arrested Monday and released the next day on $7,900 bond. Sumlin was booked Tuesday before bonding out. Both were charged with second-degree cruelty to children, which typically alleges negligence on behalf of suspects.