Mother arrested after 9-year-old accidentally shoots, kills 5-year-old brother

MARRERO, La. -- The mother of a 5-year-old Louisiana boy whom authorities say died after his 9-year-old brother accidentally shot him in the head has been arrested on a charge of child desertion.

Col. John Fortunato, a spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, says 29-year-old Generra Brown was arrested on the charge because she left the children unsupervised at a Marrero home before the Tuesday evening shooting that killed her son Melvin Brady.

Fortunato says that according to a preliminary investigation, the victim and his 9-year-old brother were playing in the closet when the two discovered a handgun. As the older brother handled the handgun, it discharged once, striking the younger child.

Fortunato says investigators believe that Brown, a home health care professional, was caring for a neighbor across the street when her 9-year-old son found a loaded gun and shot his brother once.

The 5-year-old was found in a bedroom closet with a gunshot wound to the head and pronounced dead at the scene.