Mother arrested in child's shooting death

Posted: Jul 30, 2010 5:20 PM
Updated: Jul 30, 2010 10:21 PM

Indianapolis - The mother of a three-year-old shot and killed is under suicide watch in the Marion County Jail facing child neglect and drug possession charges.

Aunesti Lee died Thursday at Riley Hospital for Children after she was shot in the head. Police now say the shot was fired by a four-year-old. It happened in the 200 block of North Sheffield Avenue on the city's west side.

"Narcotics, guns, kids, never mix," said Lt. Jeff Duhamell, IMPD.

But that's just what Indianapolis Metro Police say they found behind the doors at 203 North Sheffield Avenue. It was a deadly combination for three-year-old Aunesti Lee, who was shot and killed by another child in the home Thursday afternoon.

"Apparently there was a gun, a hand gun lying on basically a counter in the kitchen. That would be easily accessible to the kids and the mother even mentioned that she had walked by it several times," said Lt. Duhamell.

That mother, 26-year-old Fiona Lee, told police she'd gone upstairs to take a shower Thursday afternoon, leaving her three children and her boyfriend's four-year-old son together downstairs. The young boy found the loaded .45 caliber gun.

"The four-year-old basically pointed the gun at the three-year-old and fired the shot," said Lt. Duhamell. "A very tragic situation."

The girl died a few hours later at Riley Hospital for Children.

Police say Lee and her boyfriend Curtis White were at the hospital, but White left with his son and hasn't been seen since. Police want to talk to White and Child Protective Services wants to talk to the little boy who pulled the trigger.

"He definitely needs to be talked to and see how he's doing mentally," said Lt. Duhamell.

While Lee remains on suicide watch, the memorial to her little girl continues to grow outside the home where she died.

"What was she thinking? If there were drugs in that house they weren't thinking, obviously, so it's just a tragedy," said Barb Getty, a landlord in the area.

Getty says people should have spoken up if they thought drugs were being sold at the home.

"We need the involvement of the neighborhoods. They need to partner with law enforcement," she said.

But any kind of involvement comes too late for Aunesti Lee.

Police say Curtis White, the boy's father, was not home when the shooting happened, but they have questions for him about what was found inside the home.

From: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=12899065