A 37-year-old mother in Indianapolis faces felony neglect charges after her 7-year-old daughter accidentally shot herself with an unsecured handgun in a family car last November. Alysha Gulley was taken into custody this week, months after the incident she initially described as a drive-by shooting. The child told investigators she was searching for her mother's vape when the gun discharged.
The shooting occurred on November 16, 2025, as Gulley drove home from a dollar store on Indianapolis's northwest side with her children. Officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded around 5:45 p.m. to the 1100 block of West 35th Street, finding the girl in a blue minivan with a gunshot wound to her pelvis. She was awake, breathing and in stable condition, according to first responders cited by local outlets WTHR and WISH-TV. No evidence of an external shooter was found, and the minivan showed no exterior damage, undermining Gulley's initial account to police of hearing a loud boom and fleeing what she believed was a drive-by attack. Investigators recovered a loaded 9 mm handgun from an unzipped backpack on the vehicle's rear floorboard, containing 15 live rounds and a spent casing consistent with an accidental discharge. Court records show multiple bullet holes inside the minivan, including in the child's seat. The backpack lacked any locking mechanism or secure storage. In a hospital interview, the 7-year-old described reaching into the bag for her mother's vape, feeling something hard, and then the bag 'going boom' and shooting her in the bottom through the bag, as reported by WRTV and WISH-TV. She said she did not know a gun was in the backpack or vehicle. Police noted no signs of abuse but concluded the unsecured firearm created the dangerous situation. Gulley was booked into Marion County Jail on a $1,000 bond and scheduled for an initial court hearing on April 17, according to court documents.