Abagail Newman: Toddler With Sitter Dies After ‘A Gun Came Out And Shot Little Girl,’ 911 Call Says


Abagail Newman was a cheerful, 2-year-old toddler who died Monday in Hendersonville, North Carolina, when the little girl, along with three other children, were spending the day in the care of a babysitter who, for some reason, had a loaded, 20-gauge shotgun lying on a table.

Somehow, the gun went off, shooting Abagail in the neck, according to a 911 caller identified in the local Hendersonville Lightning as Heather Stepp, who made the emergency call at about 9 a.m. on October 26.

A local news report on the apparently accidental shooting death of little Abagail Newman can be viewed in the video included above, on this page.

Abagail Newman was rushed to Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, by ambulance. Weather conditions prevented a helicopter transport of the wounded child, police said. The little girl was pronounced dead at 10 a.m. in the emergency room at the hospital, according to a report in the Citizen-Times newspaper.

The cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the chest.

Stepp, a mom of four kids of her own, told the 911 dispatcher, “A gun came out and it shot a little girl.” She claimed in the emergency call that she did not realize that the shotgun was on the table.

“Somebody pointed a gun that was on the table and I didn’t know it. The little girl was shot,” the caller identified as Stepp said.

The 911 operator asked the age of the victim, to which Stepp replied, “She’s two.”

When the dispatcher asked how the little girl came to shot by the stray shotgun, Stepp replied, “It was on the table and I didn’t know it.”

At one point in the call, Stepp said, “Somebody pointed a gun that was on the table.”

Whether that “somebody” was one of the other children — ages 7, 3, and 4-months — has not been determined. Stepp told the operator that the other children there were her own.

“We’re still investigating. We’re not sure of the exact details what led to the accidental discharge from the weapon,” Henderson County Sheriff’s Office Major Frank Stout said at a news briefing. “Our investigators are working at this time trying to determine what happened.”

But Stepp told the 911 operator that the shotgun belonged to her husband, James Fuller “Bo” Stepp — and on Monday Bo Stepp was arrested after turning himself in to police, who charged him with a single count of involuntary manslaughter — though other charges may still be filed.

James Fuller "Bo" Stepp Abagail Newman shot
James Fuller “Bo” Stepp (Photo by Henderson County Sheriff’s Department)

“In no way are we trying to indicate… that he was pulling the trigger,” said Stout. “Based upon the tragedy of this event, there are people we have not been able to speak to yet… People are not in the condition to even speak because of their grief.”

James “Bo” Stepp, 31, was held on $5,000 bond, which he posted. He has no prior criminal record.

The grandfather of Heather Stepp spoke to TV station WHNS, saying that his granddaughter had been a regular babysitter to Abagail Newman since the little girl was born. He described his granddaughter as devastated over the fatal gun accident.

The Newman family has created a crowdfunding page to help cover funeral expenses for Abagail. On the page, they say that Abagail was “the victim of a very tragic accident involving lack of gun control.”

Abagail Newman Toddler Shot Family
Abagail Newman, center, with her family (Photo via Abagail Newman Foundation YouCaring Page)

“Abagail was only on this earth for two short years before a tragic accident took her life,” the Newman family says on the the YouCaring.com page. “At just two years old, she was the ultimate funny girl — she had a personality that instantaneously lit up the room. She touched many hearts with her bubbly, sassy personality.”

[Featured Photo via Abagail Newman Foundation YouCaring Page]

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