DETROIT – The grandmother of a 6-year-old girl who was killed after being accidentally shot and killed with an unsecured gun outside a Detroit shopping plaza is now seeking answers regarding what led up to her tragic death.
Tonya Wheeler Johnson King, the girl’s grandmother, identified her as 6-year-old Rebecca Brundidge and described her as a joyful, typical child who loved to play, attend church, and spend time with cousins and siblings.
“I can’t believe we don’t have our Rebecca, but God got an angel,” Wheeler Johnson King said.
“She was a happy baby, a happy girl,” she described. “She was her mother’s helper; she looked out for everyone, her sisters, her baby brother.”
Police said the 6-year-old was accidentally shot Monday (March 2) afternoon after being left alone in the car while her mother went into a store at a shopping plaza near Gratiot and Harper.
Wheeler Johnson King described Rebecca’s mother, who is her daughter, as a loving, hardworking parent who worked for DoorDash to make ends meet.
She learned her daughter was arrested after the shooting.
Police have not announced whether the mother will face criminal charges.
Wheeler Johnson King said her 10-year-old grandson may have accidentally fired the weapon, and she said she does not know where he is now.
A spokesperson for the Detroit Police Department said the department couldn’t release information regarding his whereabouts.
“Every mother and every grandmother should know, please get a lock box for your guns, lock them up,” Wheeler Johnson King said. “My granddaughter would be here today with me, she would be here today running up and down the sidewalk, she would be saying, ' Grandma, let’s play.”
Johnson King hopes Rebecca’s death will prompt other parents to secure firearms and use gun safety devices.
“Ask for lock boxes, ask for gun safety locks,” Johnson King said. “If that’s the only thing you learn from this, do that, because it will save someone’s life.”