Mother Shooting at Large Rat Wounds 5-Year-Old Daughter

A mother shooting at a large rat wounded her 5-year-old daughter when the bullet passed through a wall, authorities said.

The .22-caliber slug hit Kenisha Jelks in the upper chest and lodged just above her liver, officials at Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford said. Doctors decided not to remove the bullet, and the child was reported recovering and in good condition Wednesday.

The rat, described as “not quite as big as a medium-sized cat,” jumped into a bed where Kenisha, her mother and another daughter were sleeping Tuesday, said the mother, Debra Jelks.

Jelks grabbed the gun and told her daughters to go out onto the porch, a sheriff’s spokesman said. She then picked up a rug where the rat ran and hid, and fired once. The bullet went through the wall, ricocheted off the porch and struck Kenisha.