Tennessee mother accidentally shoots and kills 13-year-old daughter while rummaging through her purse for her keys

A Nashville teenager died after her mother accidentally shot her with a drawn gun while she was searching her purse for her keys.

Dearria Radley Cooper, 13, was fatally shot Saturday night inside the Edgehill Avenue home she shared with her mother, De’Ann Radley.

Radley told police she had been searching through her purse for her keys. In his bag he also had a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, which was accidentally discharged.

Midtown Hills Precinct officers responded to a 911 call just before 10 p.m. and provided first aid to the 13-year-old girl before she was taken to the Vanderbilt Pediatric Emergency Room.

There he died from a single gunshot wound, police said.

Radley left a series of posts on Facebook the day after her daughter’s death.

He also recorded a video of her sitting in the back seat of a car with tears streaming down her face.

‘I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,’ she said between sobs. ‘No one, I don’t wish this on anyone. My baby, my baby is gone.’

‘Thirteen years. Thirteen years and my baby is gone. I want my baby back.

“We went through everything together and my baby is gone, my heart is gone.”

Among the photos she shared was an old one of her holding and kissing baby Dearria.

“Hold your babies tight because I lost mine, words cannot describe this pain,” Radley wrote, referring to Dearria as “my twin, my heart.”

“My baby was so beautiful, God give me strength, I wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone,” she continued. ‘My heart is in a million pieces. Bug, wake up, mommy needs you.

‘Who’s going to tell me mom, everything is going to be okay? And hug me and wipe my tears… Darling, I need you, I can’t do this.’

Dearria’s grandmother, Irish Radley, posted her own message on Facebook.

“I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest,” he wrote a day after the high school student’s death.

“Please pray for my family, we are going through this right now, my oldest grandson passed away last night.”

She said goodbye with a message to her granddaughter: “Grandma loves you, Bug.”

On Sunday, Radley set up a GoFundMe to cover the expenses of his daughter’s funeral.

‘My 13-year-old daughter was accidentally shot dead, I do not have insurance to bury her, if anyone can help me in these painful moments I would gladly appreciate your contribution,’ he wrote.

No charges have been filed so far in connection with Dearria’s death, police said. the Department The Division of Youth Services is leading an investigation that is ongoing.

In Tennessee, gun buyers are provided with a firearm lock at the time of purchase.

However, a new law that went into effect last November states that the Tennessee Department of Safety must provide locks to gun owners upon request, regardless of their purchase.