Screams heard on 911 call after 4-year-old girl shot, Wisconsin cops say. ‘Stay with me’
Frantic screams echoed through the phone as a Wisconsin 911 dispatcher tried to ask what was going on, but the call abruptly disconnected.
Another call soon came in Feb. 17, but no one spoke directly to the Milwaukee dispatcher, police said. On the other end of the line, a woman could be heard saying “stay with me, stay with me,” according to court documents.
What the dispatcher couldn’t see was 25-year-old Derreanna Little talking to her 4-year-old niece who had just suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, police said.
She and her boyfriend, 41-year-old Anthony Brookshire, rushed the girl to the hospital, where she later died, police said.
As the pair was preparing to go to the hospital, Little said she put the guns in the car, according to court documents.
Now, the two are facing criminal charges in the girl’s death, according to court documents filed Feb. 22. Little was charged with neglecting a child leading to death while Brookshire was charged with neglect and two counts of firearm possession by a felon, prosecutors said.
Attorney information for Little and Brookshire was not listed.
Brookshire, Little, the 4-year-old and Little’s 1-year-old daughter had just returned from grocery shopping when the aunt said she took the girls into a room to change her daughter’s diaper, the criminal complaint said.
Little told police she heard a “loud pop” as she was changing her 1-year-old’s diaper. She turned around to see the 4-year-old girl with a gunshot wound.
Previously, she told police she was not in the room when the gun went off, court documents said. Little initially said she walked into the room to find the 1-year-old holding a gun, according to police.
Her boyfriend had six previous felony convictions, five of them firearm-related, and was not permitted to own a gun, prosecutors said. However, both Brookshire and Little told police that a gun was kept under the pillow of an air mattress where the girl was shot, according to the criminal complaint.
Brookshire corroborated Little’s account regarding the diaper change and said he was in the living room when he heard the gunshot, the complaint said.
He rushed into the back bedroom to find the 4-year-old girl bleeding as the air mattress deflated, court documents said. Police said they later found a shell casing near the deflated air mattress.
Both defendants are scheduled to appear in court on March 4.
This story was originally published February 25, 2025 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Screams heard on 911 call after 4-year-old girl shot, Wisconsin cops say. ‘Stay with me’."
