Father charged in death of 9-year-old girl shot by juvenile while home alone in North Philly

Involuntary manslaughter and weapons charges have been filed against the father of the 9-year-old girl who was accidentally shot and killed by another child while they were home alone inside a North Philly residence earlier this week.

Philadelphia police said Blake Davis' daughter had been home alone with her brother and cousin at the time of the shooting on Wednesday – all three are juveniles. Investigators recovered two firearms from the home on the 2300 block of North Bouvier Street.

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Davis, 39, also is charged with child endangerment and reckless endangerment. Some of the weapons offense are related to him being prohibited from possessing a gun due to prior criminal convictions. Court records show he had been arrested multiple time since 2001. Most recently, he had been sentenced to prison in 2012 on drug charges.

"This tragedy was 100% preventable. Kids should not be allowed unsupervised access to firearms, period. We can hold both that a father has suffered a horrific tragedy, and that he is also criminally responsible for this loss,” District Attorney Krasner said. “As a community, we must also come together to ensure that the two other children found in this residence are able to heal and grow beyond the trauma inflicted on them.”

When Philadelphia police responded to Davis' home, they found she had been shot in the head and took her to Temple University Hospital. She was transferred to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children where she died Wednesday afternoon. The girl's name has not been yet released.

Krasner said he hopes "bold new gun regulations" will be established under the Biden Administration. 

“Being prohibited from legal purchase of firearms, as Davis was, means little when illegal guns are so cheap and plentiful," Krasner said.

This incident is the latest in a rising trend in shooting incidents involving Philadelphia children over the past year, and a larger trend of gun violence in the city.

In Philadelphia, safe storage of firearms is required by law in households with minors. Free gun locks are available through Temple Safety Net.