A mother who claimed that her two-year-old daughter died after accidentally shooting herself in the head has been arrested after an autopsy indicated otherwise.
Jessica Cantu, 35, was taken into custody on Friday after an autopsy showed her daughter Juelz Gonzalez ‘could not have shot herself due to the gunshot being from a distance and not close proximity’, according to police records.
The San Antonio Sheriff’s Office on Thursday stated that ‘initially it was reported to police that the child shot herself’.
‘Through the course of the investigation, investigators gathered additional evidence including the medical examiner’s report that determined the child had not shot herself,’ the sheriff’s office said.
Cantu had told police that she was in the bathroom of her home in San Antonio, Texas, and her four-year-old daughter was in another room when they heard a loud ‘pop’ sound at night on February 18.
Juelz at the time was lying in bed watching a movie on a cell phone, the mother claimed.
Cantu and her boyfriend Joshua Christopher Ramirez, 32, who owned the gun, apparently both rushed into the bedroom to find Juelz shot.
Ramirez was arrested for allegedly owning the firearm involved in Juelz’s death.
The medical examiner’s report generated enough probable cause for authorities to issue a warrant for child endangerment.
Four months after the incident, Cantu has been charged with endangering a child.
The district attorney has not ruled out additional charges against the couple.
Child Abuse Prevention Advocate Carrie Wilcoxson said Cantu and Ramirez were responsible for protecting Juelz.
‘You as a caregiver has a responsibility, whether you’re committing the actual act, or you’re aware of what’s happening, you have a duty to protect, you have a duty to act,’ Wilcoxson told . ‘This was preventable. That’s the part of this that is so tragic.’
.
