A grandmother in Ohio is facing a felony assault charge after admitting to intentionally shooting her six-month-old granddaughter in the eye.
Mia Desiree Harris, 43, pled guilty on Tuesday to the assault charge, according to Law&Crime. She also faced two charges relating to assaults of other family members but both of those were dismissed following her plea.
The violence unfolded in the early hours of December 9 last year. Police responded to a report in Liberty Township, 25 miles north of Cincinnati, that an infant had been shot at around 1:50am. A woman on the phone told a 911 operator that “my baby’s been shot, my baby’s been shot,” according to WXIX.
The 911 operator then asked the woman to confirm that her baby has been shot. “Yes,” she says. “Lord please save my baby.”
Responding officers found the child with a gunshot wound to the head. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones told WXIX at the time that the child had been shot through the eye.
The infant was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, but survived and is on the road to recovery, according to Journal-News.
The sheriff’s office said that Harris also allegedly hit and shot at several family members before “intentionally shooting the child.”
A law enforcement incident report alleged that Harris was so determined to enter the room where her granddaughter was sleeping that she fired multiple shots through a wooden door and then broke down it’s splintered remains to get to the child.
Detective Daniel Turner provided further context during a preliminary hearing in 2023. After breaking into the room, Harris shot the child’s mother in the head — the bullet narrowly grazed her skull, he said, according to WCPO — and then shot the child. Harris then lifted the child off the bed and smiled as she handed the infant to its wounded mother.
Harris fled the scene before deputies arrived but witnesses identified her to law enforcement. She was located and taken into custody shortly after the incident.
When the woman was asked why she wanted to shoot the child, she told deputies: “That was not my grandbaby. Sorry, not sorry,” WCPO reported.
She then said that her family was “trying to take all of her money and then leave,” and insisted that she “was not going to allow that to happen.”
Sheriff Jones told local broadcaster WXIX that he could see no possible justification for what occurred.
“It wasn’t an accident. It was on purpose. This is one of the most disgusting, vile criminal acts I’ve ever seen, shooting a 6-month-old baby. What makes it even worse is this is the baby’s grandmother,” he said. “She went and shot this child and doesn’t appear to have any remorse whatsoever. I feel sorry for the baby, the family, everybody that’s dealing with this … this is as bad as it gets.”
Harris is being held in Butler County Jail on a $1.5million bond. The maximum penalty for a first-degree felony assault in Ohio is 11 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
