HENRIETTA, Tenn. (WSMV) - On what is normally a peaceful street, neighbors on Hazel Drive were shocked to hear there had been a shooting - and that the victim was only three years old.
“It was sad, because we’d always see him out in the yard playing and everything,” neighbor Linda Tillman said.
As a grandma, she says she loves to hear kids out in the neighborhood, but now their street is going to be a little quieter.
“She would sit on the porch and watching him and you know, she was so attentive. He didn’t do anything without her. And then you know, he just happened to get in the bedroom.”
It was in that bedroom where Tillman said the family told her the young boy was able to get a gun. She says the mom was washing dishes just feet away and had turned her back for a minute. That’s when the toddler was able to sneak in and neighbors heard a gunshot.
“She was screaming her head off,” Tillman said.
The boy was airlifted to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, but doctors weren’t able to save him.
Hearing this, Tillman says it makes her think about what safety measures she takes with her own gun.
“Everything’s under lock and key. I just think you have to,” Tillman said.
The community is now focused on praying and bringing the family food while they grieve.
“We’ve told them if there’s anything they need whatsoever, they can count on us,” Tillman said, “I don’t know what they’re going to do about the funeral or nothing. They’re just too upset right now to say anything.”
Police say the investigation remains open. No charges have been filed.
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