DoorDash Pickup Turns Tragic After Boy, 11, Finds Unsecured Gun in Car and Fatally Shoots Sister

A Detroit mother has been charged by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the fatal shooting of her six-year-old daughter.

Investigators with the Detroit Police Department (DPD) say 41-year-old Tonya Charisse-Annice Johnson left a handgun unattended in her car while stepping away to pick up a DoorDash delivery. During that time, her 11-year-old son allegedly accessed the firearm and fired the shots that killed his younger sister.

The incident took place in a strip mall parking lot at Gratiot Avenue and Harper Avenue.

On March 2, 2026, at about 12:06 p.m., Detroit police officers responded to a report of a shooting at a restaurant in the 9700 block of Harper Avenue in Detroit. When officers arrived, they found the six-year-old child suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.

Emergency medical personnel arrived shortly afterward and transported the child to a nearby hospital, where she died from her injuries.

According to investigators, Johnson, a DoorDash driver, allegedly left her five children — ranging in age from two to 11 — unattended in her vehicle while she went inside the restaurant to pick up food. Police say her son then discovered an unsecured handgun inside the vehicle and discharged the weapon, striking his sister in the head and fatally wounding her.

Investigators say the boy told them Johnson always keeps a gun in the car and that he knew the weapon was real but did not know it was loaded.

Johnson has been charged with a firearms safe storage violation— premises under an individual’s control where a minor was present and caused death to themselves or another — as well as three counts of second-degree child abuse and four counts of felony firearm.

Johnson was ordered by the court to have no contact with her children.

Assistant Prosecutor Aniela Bosca with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office criticized Johnson’s alleged negligence, saying the incident would likely cause lifelong trauma for the 11-year-old boy.

“There is going to be life-long trauma that this young man is going to suffer as a result of shooting his sister. Knowing that he killed her, the other children that were in the vehicle watching this happen, and this was negligent,” Bosca said, according to WJBK.

Johnson appeared virtually in court on March 5, 2026, and allegedly wiped away tears. Her attorney said “nobody feels worse right now” than the mother.

The child’s death prompted outcry from the community about safe gun storage. “I feel no sympathy for the mother- it’s your right to own a weapon, but it is your responsibility to make sure that it is secured,” one individual wrote on social media.

“At 41 years old, she should have known better than to have the firearm in a vehicle within reach of her children. No excuses,” commented another.

Johnson’s next court hearing is scheduled for March 13.