By The newspaper
Aug 24, 2023, 10:25 AM EDT
A 3-year-old girl was seriously injured when a man “accidentally” shot her and then took her own life in Suffolk County, Long Island (NY).
The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and the gunman was identified as 38-year-old Gary Jones. Police said they were investigating a June 19 homicide of a woman and speaking with a friend of Jones at a home in Ridge.
The friend told officers that Jones was at the home. The officers then directed the occupants – children and adults – out of the residence, according to authorities.
At that moment, Jones appeared with a gun. He fired several shots at the officers and one of the bullets went through a wall and struck a 3-year-old girl in the apartment next door.
Agents surrounded the house with hostage negotiators before a robot was dispatched. Jones was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities.
James Toney, father of the girl Lovely Toney, said she was hospitalized at Cohen Children’s Hospital with injuries to her hand and stomach and was in stable condition after surgery, he said. Pix11. Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said two officers heroically carried the girl to hospital. While one was driving, the other took life-saving steps to control the bleeding.
Jones was a suspect in the death of Shayna Staton, 39, who was found between a bed and a wall in June with multiple gunshot wounds in Central Islip, it said. ABC News.
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