Gun that killed 14-year-old girl had accidentally discharged
The gun that killed 14-year-old Tommorrow Brumfield apparently fired accidentally after a family friend pointed it at her forehead during a “playful and friendly” night before her eighth grade graduation, according to court records filed Friday.
Tommorrow, who was set to graduate from the Fifty-Third Street School the next day, had been showing off her newly done nails, picking out clothing for her ceremony and playing with a toy gun before Damon L. Douglas, 28, of Milwaukee allegedly pointed a real one at her, according to the criminal complaint.
Douglas has been charged with second-degree reckless homicide and is in Milwaukee County Jail with cash bail set at $10,000, according to online court records.
Tommorrow was killed the evening of June 13 in the 8100 block of West Villard Avenue, where she and her sisters were living with an adult woman — identified only as Brittany — and her 5year-old son. The woman is not their legal guardian but was otherwise looking after them, the complaint said. According to the criminal complaint: Brittany told police Douglas had driven her and Tommorrow to get their nails done in anticipation of the following day’s graduation ceremony. When they returned, they joined a number of family members and friends in a room where Tommorrow was also picking out which clothes to wear.
At some point, Brittany left the bedroom.
A second witness, identified only as Vanesha, told police she had only recently met Douglas and Brittany. Vanesha said she had briefly been inside the room in question, which had a “playful and friendly” atmosphere.
She said Douglas had known Tommorrow for a long time and referred to her and her sisters as his own kids. She also said Douglas was known to carry a gun and that inside the house was a toy BB gun that everyone, including Douglas, understood was a toy. Tommorrow enjoyed pointing it at people, Vanesha said.
Brittany’s 5-year-old son told police at one point, Tommorrow began playing with the toy BB gun while inside the room and eventually Douglas pointed his real handgun at her forehead.
The gun then went off, shocking everyone, including Douglas, witnesses said.
Vanesha told police in the immediate aftermath, Douglas dropped to the floor, screaming, “I don’t know what happened, it was an accident.”
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, roughly a third of U.S. homes with children have guns, and even young toddlers are capable of finding unlocked guns and are strong enough to pull the trigger.
In homes with guns, the likelihood of an accidental death by a gun is four times higher. The most effective way to prevent unintentional shootings is the absence of guns in homes.
But for those that do have them, the academy recommends guns be locked away and ammunition locked and stored separately. Children and teens should not be able to unlock the boxes that store firearms, and guns that are loaded and unlocked should not be stored in a car or anywhere else on your property.
The academy recommends guns be unloaded any time they are set down.