SIOUX FALLS — An 11-year-old girl is in critical condition after she was accidentally shot by a 10-year-old boy handling his mother's gun.
The mother — Miranda Kriechseidschlaw, 31, of Sioux Falls — was charged Monday, April 17, with two counts of child abuse and two counts of possession of a firearm by an individual with a prior drug conviction, according to court documents.
The girl has been publicly identified in a GoFundMe page as an 11-year-old named Addyson. She was shot on Saturday by a 10-year-old family member who was handling a gun. According to the GoFundMe page, Addyson was struck in the arm, lung, stomach and liver by a single bullet. After suffering significant internal bleeding, she received two surgeries and is in critical condition in a pediatric intensive care unit.
The names of the juveniles are redacted in court documents due to their age. An affidavit filed by a responding officer indicates that the 10-year-old boy who fired the gun had taken it from his mother's home. Kriechseidschlaw is currently in jail on an unrelated drug charge.
The 10-year-old told police that he was worried someone would find the gun in the home, and that he had put it in his backpack for “safekeeping.” The child transported the gun from Kriechseidschlaw’s address on North Cleveland Avenue to another home on South Larch Avenue.
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Court documents say that while in the basement of the home on South Larch Avenue, the boy was manipulating the gun in an effort to make it safe when he admitted to pulling the trigger.
On the GoFundMe page, a family friend said the adults who brought the 10-year-old to the home were unaware that he was in possession of a firearm.
When officers spoke with Kriechseidschlaw at the Minnehaha County Jail — where she’s been held since April 7 — court documents say she told police that she didn’t know why the 10-year-old would claim to be hiding the gun for her, and had no clue where the gun would have come from.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at the home on North Cleveland Avenue and found a Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22P and multiple bullets of various calibers inside. Kriechseidschlaw is prohibited from possessing firearms as part of her previous conviction.
In connection with the shooting, Kriechseidschlaw faces two Class 4 felonies and two Class 6 felonies. If convicted, she could be sentenced to serve up to 24 years in prison and pay fines of up to $48,000.
The GoFundMe page, which is aimed toward helping pay medical bills for Addyson, has raised $6,000 in its first 24 hours from more than 85 donors.
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