An 8-year-old girl was taken to a hospital Friday after accidentally shooting herself in Norfolk, police said. Her uncle was arrested and charged with felony child neglect.
Police described the girl’s injuries as “non-life threatening” in the initial news release and said Monday she is expected to recover.
Around 8 p.m. Friday night, officers responded to a report of a gunshot victim at a house on the 5700 block of Chesapeake Boulevard, in the Norview Heights neighborhood. There, they found the girl with a gunshot wound and took her to a hospital.
Preliminary investigation revealed the girl accidentally shot herself. Police found the firearm and arrested Alvonte L. Lawton, 22, Friday night.
A police spokesperson said Lawton is the girl’s uncle, but didn’t say whether the firearm belonged to him or how he came to be responsible for the girl that night.
Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, cianna.morales@virginiamedia.com