Father charged with fatally shooting 8-year-old daughter

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The father of 8-year-old Milwaukee girl has been charged with fatally shooting her.

Michael Huddleston, 47, is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the Jan. 15 death of Tiana Huddleston. A criminal complaint says Huddleston told detectives his daughter was a in the wrong place at the wrong time when his gun accidentally discharged.

The girl’s 18-year-old brother called 911 to report the shooting and that Huddleston was on the way to the hospital with Tiana. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, doctors approached Huddleston and told him that Tiana had died. The complaint says Huddleston repeatedly told officers and detectives to take him to jail.

The complaint said Huddleston later told detectives he drank two pints of tequila and he wanted to teach the kids a lesson in gun safety and grabbed his gun, checked that the safety was on and that there was nothing in the clip. When Huddleston put the clip back in the gun and squeezed the trigger, the girl was struck in the chest by a bullet, according to the complaint.

The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office has also charged Huddleston with use of dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.

If convicted, Huddleston faces up to 70 years in prison Court records do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.