Mom, boyfriend charged following shooting death of girl, 4

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Philadelphia Police have announced charges against a mother and her boyfriend following the shooting death of a four-year-old girl in North Philadelphia last week.

Around 12:20 p.m. June 23 rd , officers responded to the scene of a shooting on the 1800 block of North 20 th Street, to find a young girl suffering from a gunshot wound to her right eye at the front steps of a home.

The young girl, identified as four-year-old Sani Holmes, was taken to Hahnemann Hospital, but succumbed to her injury a short time later.

According to police, the young girl discovered a loaded handgun inside a closet in the home, and fired the handgun as she sat in the closet looking down the barrel.

The girl's mother, 25-year-old Shakeya Holmes, was arrested and charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a child, hindering apprehension, recklessly endangering another person, and possessing an instrument of crime.

After police say Holmes provided false information to investigators, she indicated the gun was brought into the home by her boyfriend, 26-year-old Demetrius Williams.

The following day, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Williams. Williams turned himself into homicide investigators the following week. He has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering welfare, possessing an instrument of crime, and recklessly endangering another person, and a number of violations of the Uniform Firearms Act.