Goofing around at his home over the weekend in Philadelphia, Maurice Phillips committed an act of unimaginable carelessness with a gun, police officials said, accidentally killing his four-year-old daughter with a shot to the head.
Phillips’s reaction then set in motion a series of events that led to wild confusion, a desperate search and widespread news reports that the girl had been killed by her five-year-old sister.
The shooting unfolded last Saturday afternoon at a home that Phillips (30) shared with his fiancee and seven children, police said. His daughter, Tahirah Phillips, had been watching television and playing with her siblings when her father entered the room and started waving a gun around like a toy, according to his eventual confession.
“During this time, the gun discharged one time, striking his daughter in the back of the head, killing her instantly,” Capt James Clark of the Philadelphia Police Department said during a news conference on Monday. “It was a stupid, idiotic act,” he added.
The other children screamed and at some point, a 911 call was placed. But rather than wait, the police said, Phillips walked over to his five-year-old daughter, struck her with a closed fist and wiped blood from his hand onto her shirt. The police have depicted those actions as a bid to frame the child.
“He went as far as to punish the five-year-old to show how much he felt that she did this,” Clark told the Associated Press. Phillips then called his fiancee, Tera Riddick, who arrived to find Tahirah lying dead in a rear bedroom, the police said. He then changed his clothes and fled.
The apparent deflection seemed to work, for a time. Law-enforcement sources told reporters on Saturday that the five-year-old sibling was probably holding the gun when it went off. News organisations went with that account in television broadcasts and articles that received widespread attention.
As family, friends and neighbours were absorbing the tragedy, the police were also engaged in an intense search for the father. At the time, Clark told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "We desperately need to find the father, who for whatever reason fled the scene."
Several hours after the shooting, Phillips turned himself in. “He just showed up,” said officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman. “He obviously knew that we would be after him.”
Speaking to investigators, Phillips denied responsibility at first, the police said, but he eventually confessed. A gun was found at the house, the police said.
Phillips was charged on Monday with third-degree homicide, reckless endangerment and related counts. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 4th.
On Monday night, a small group held a vigil outside the family’s home on a run-down block of row houses in the Kensington neighbourhood. Candles and colourful stuffed animals were placed beneath a window, and pink and white balloons were released into a cloudless sky.
The girl’s mother, Riddick, is emotionally broken, a close friend, Sheena Coles, said Tuesday. “Tahirah was a sweet little girl,” Coles said, “an innocent, beautiful little girl.”
New York Times