The Glendale Police Department says the father of the 6-year-old girl shot Thursday has been arrested.
According to police, 26-year-old Eldon Mcinville was booked on charges of child abuse and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Police say an investigation revealed Mcinville was "recklessly manipulating" a shotgun just before he "reportedly fell" causing the gun to discharge and strike his daughter.
The initial report, according to police, was that Mcinville had been cleaning the gun and was walking to put it away when he accidentally tripped. The shotgun fell and fired at the girl who was walking near her father.
Police said detectives determined Mcinville acted in a "reckless and dangerous manner" resulting in his daughter's injuries.
Court documents revealed Mcinville told police he had recently purchased the shotgun and was cleaning it for the first time. He said he had researched how to load it on YouTube and Google, the documents showed.
According to the documents, Mcinville told police he was teaching his daughter gun safety before the shooting. He said he half-cocked the weapon so he could load live birdshot ammunition in it "for storage."
Mcinville said he was sitting on the floor in a bedroom and when he went to stand up he slipped and fell, according to the court paperwork. The gun "somehow went off," he told police.
He told police the safety of the weapon was on, according to court document.
According to the court paperwork, Mcinville said he kept other weapons in his room behind a shelf in his closet and not in a safe. He told police the room was "typically" locked as a safety measure.
Another witness, however, told police the room was not locked as Mcinville said and that Mcinville sometimes walks around the house with weapons, the documents showed.
According to the court paperwork, detectives found a loaded revolver on a TV stand and another loaded shotgun in a closet inside the room where the shooting happened.
The girl was airlifted to a local hospital and underwent emergency surgery with a life-threatening gunshot wound, police say.
The girl remains in critical condition and will undergo multiple surgeries to treat her injuries, according to police.
Court documents showed the girl had been shot in the lower abdomen and suffered a fractured pelvic bone along with a large soft tissue defect.
An emotional Mcinville appeared in court Friday where a judge set a cash bond at $50,000. He also can't have contact with his daughter.
“I just want to help my family," Mcinville said. "That’s all I want to do. I understand what’s going on. I understand… now, what’s going on.“
You can watch Mcinville's full, initial court appearance on our YouTube channel.
A preliminary hearing is set for May 6.