6 Year-Old Ga. Girl Accidentally Killed By Brother

July 27--A 6-year-old girl from Coventry was shot in the chest and killed Tuesday by her 13-year-old brother in an accident at their grandmother's home in Culloden, Ga., according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

The girl is identified in the police report as Jenn Stanovich of 2891 Main St. in Coventry.

Her brother, who is not identified, told police he was in the bedroom when he accidentally knocked a Mossberg .22-caliber rifle off the bed onto the floor. The rifle discharged and hit his sister, who was standing in the doorway talking to him, the report states.

The boy said he had been hunting armadillos in the backyard before the shooting, and that he thought the weapon was unloaded when he laid it on the bed, the report states.

The siblings' father, Richard Stanovich, 49, said he heard the gunshot and ran to the back of the house, where he found his daughter in the hallway bleeding and brought her to the kitchen where he held her until help arrived, the report states.

A volunteer firefighter and a neighbor, who is a paramedic, were in the kitchen attending to Jenn Stanovich when police arrived, the report states.

She was taken to a local hospital where she died from her injuries, the report says. Her body was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Crime Lab, the report states.

Police seized the rifle, as well as a Krico Stuttgart with a telescope, a spent .22-caliber shell casing and a box of .22-caliber long rifle shells, the report states.

Allison Selman-Willis, spokeswoman at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, said police are treating the shooting as an accident.

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