Christopher Gamble booking photo Baltimore Police Department
A 2-year-old girl in Maryland died a week before Christmas after her father allegedly shot her in the bedroom of their Baltimore home, a tragedy that police say he tried to cover up when they first interviewed him.
Christopher Gamble, 28, was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department on Wednesday according to a news release. The toddler, identified as Christopher Gamble’s daughter Charlee Gamble, died around 8 p.m. on Dec. 17.
Court records show Christopher Gamble has been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, assault, child abuse resulting in death, and nearly a half dozen gun charges.
Police were notified Sunday that a 2-year-old toddler had been shot and was transported to a hospital with severe injuries. Officers did not think the girl would “make it through the night,” records show.
In charging documents, it is alleged that Gamble initially brought his wounded daughter to the hospital and immediately handed her off to staff before he “drove away” in his Acura.
He later returned with the child’s mother and was wearing different clothing, police said. She was not identified by police at this time.
Unraveling what happened to the girl, detectives said they interviewed Gamble and learned that on the car ride to the hospital, he exclaimed, “I have to die…it was my fault.”
Detectives said they also learned that Gamble was home alone with his daughter and three other children he shared with Charlee’s mother when the shooting happened.
“Mr. Gamble was in the master bedroom with his daughter Charlee. It [was] at this time that Charlee was shot one time between her eyes,” police said.
His interviews with police were often conflicting, according to charging documents.
At first, he allegedly told them his daughter must have taken a gun he left on his TV stand in the bedroom.
He “implied that his daughter shot herself,” police said.
Gamble had trouble explaining where the firearm went, however. Police secured search warrants for his home and car and were unable to locate it. There was also no blood in the home or other evidence, they said.
Though he admitted the gun was purchased illegally for $600 “off the street,” police said when they pressed him further about the weapon’s whereabouts, he said he didn’t know where it was.
This and other factors prompted a charge of altering physical evidence in a criminal procedure.
It is unclear if Gamble has retained an attorney. He is being held at Central Booking in Baltimore.
The Baltimore Sun reported on Wednesday that Mayor Brandon Scott has called for “the adults around [Charlee]” to be investigated because it seemed impossible to him that she could have died “in a place full of people that loved that young person.”
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