Girl, 9, Kills Sister After Finding Gun in Woman’s Office

A 9-year-old girl found a gun while playing in a woman’s office in Gardena and accidentally shot her 6-year-old sister to death, authorities said Sunday.

The two girls were playing Saturday evening inside a trailer office on the grounds of B&G; Industrial Rentals, in the 1600 block of West 130th Street, when the older sister found a handgun mounted underneath a desk, police said.

The girl apparently believed it was a toy, pointed it at her sister and shot her in the chest, a Gardena police spokesman said.

The 6-year-old was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 8:41 p.m.

Police later Saturday arrested Cheri Hudson, 35, one of the owners of the business, on suspicion of criminal storage of a firearm. The gun was found in her office.

The two girls were brought to the business by their mother’s boyfriend, who works there, police said. The girls were playing alone when the accident occurred.

Further details remained sketchy Sunday, but a manager at the business who did not want to be identified said that B&G; is located in a “high-crime area” and that Hudson kept a gun for personal protection. The manager declined to comment further.