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Father killed, daughter injured after gun in diaper bag goes off

Posted at 4:34 AM, Apr 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-17 04:34:26-04

A man who accidentally shot himself while changing his daughter’s diaper in a vehicle in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, has died, police said.

Timothy Roshun Smith was shot in the leg and chest, and his daughter’s leg was injured, when a loaded gun in a diaper bag went off Saturday outside a Chuck E. Cheese’s.

The 22-year-old man died Monday, said Capt. Johnny Evans of the Vestavia Hills Police Department. The girl is expected to make a full recovery, Evans said.

Smith was in the back seat of a vehicle Saturday outside the pizza restaurant, changing the girl’s diaper. The gun went off as he picked up or reached inside a diaper bag on the floorboard, Evans said after the incident.

After the gun went off, the bullet traveled through Smith’s leg and then the child’s leg before lodging in the man’s chest, Evans said.

“This was a tragic accident and condolences from the VHPD and VHFD go out to the family involved,” the police department said in a release.