Man charged as 'shotgun he kept under pillow went off and killed girl, 3, beside him
She was described as 'an angel'
- by
Kathryn Lewsey
A man has been charged with homicide after a shotgun that he kept under his pillow went off and struck three-year-old Chassity Clancy.
Marlin Pritchard, 51, was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child after the devastating death of the young girl, which happened on Sunday morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Allegheny County Jail/ CBS
The man explained to police he was sleeping beside Chassity and another child when he ‘woke up to the sound of a bang’ and saw on the children run from the bed.
According to Oxygen, he then tried to ‘wake up’ Chassity but she failed to move. It’s reported she was shot in the neck and bleeding from the mouth.
The child was later pronounced dead.
When police arrived at the home, they found Pritchard in the bedroom near Chassity lying motionless on the bed.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported how Pritchard later confessed to detectives, saying, ‘What do you want from me, man? This is my fault.’
He claimed he kept the gun under a pillow because people were ‘after him’.
It’s reported those people included a couple who came to his house on Saturday to complain about contracting work he’d done for them. Pritchard also said he had an ongoing dispute with a person named ‘Vic.’
Christ Togneri, a public information officer for the City of Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Department, revealed that Pritchard wasn’t related to Chassity and that he and other adults in the home babysitting at the time of the shooting.
Pritchard said to police he had been sleeping on the left side of the bed with the kids on the right side, when the gun was fired.
After, he took the gun outside and placed it by tyres before returning to hold Chassity.
As well as homicide and child endangerment, Pritchard is also facing gun charges.
Chassity's cousin, George Logan III, described the girl as a 'princess' and told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 'She was funny, she always kept us laughing. Chassity was the family's baby.
'She was sassy, and I've never seen her mad or crying. She was really an angel to us. She loved everybody.'
