A prosecutor says an 8-year-old Ohio boy loaded a rifle, repeatedly shot his 4-year-old sister at home, and then informed their mother, who left work to check the girl's injuries, cleaned up a bloody bed cover, and then returned to work, leaving the children alone again. The woman, 27-year-old Alyssa Edwards, is jailed on child endangerment charges related to the Saturday shooting in Hayesville, about 70 miles southwest of Cleveland. The Ashland Times-Gazette reports Edwards' husband thought she was taking the kids to a babysitter before heading to work at a horse farm, per Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell. He says her son apparently loaded the gun himself, as the ammunition was stored separately from the gun, and phoned his mom around 10am; she clocked back in at work an hour later.
Tunnell says she brought the girl to the hospital sometime between noon and 2pm due to urine seemingly leaking from the wound. The paper reports Edwards tearfully appeared in court Monday and said there was no information the judge needed to consider before he set her bond at $30,000. An attorney is being appointed for Edwards for her Wednesday arraignment. The girl remained hospitalized Monday in stable condition. Carl Richert, the Ashland County sheriff's chief deputy, says the girl's injuries weren't considered life-threatening, reports the AP. No other details about the girl's injuries have been released. Her brother was in the custody of children's services.
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