--- title: Philadelphia Man Charged in Shooting Death of Daughter, 4 description: A Philadelphia man who allegedly admitted to fatally shooting his 4-year-old daughter over the weekend has been charged with murder. canonical: https://time.com/4297445/philadelphia-father-shoot-daughter/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-18T16:07:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:30:42.318Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Philadelphia Father Charged With Fatally Shooting His 4-Year-Old Daughter og:description: He told police he was playing with the gun when he accidentally shot her og:url: https://time.com/4297445/philadelphia-father-shoot-daughter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Philadelphia Father Charged With Fatally Shooting His 4-Year-Old Daughter twitter:description: He told police he was playing with the gun when he accidentally shot her twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Philadelphia Father Charged With Fatally Shooting His 4-Year-Old Daughter  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 18, 2016 4:07 PM CUT  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 18, 2016 4:07 PM CUT A Philadelphia man who allegedly admitted to [fatally shooting his 4-year-old daughter](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160419%5FFather%5Fcharged%5Fin%5Fshooting%5Fdeath%5Fof%5Fgirl%5F%5F4.html "undefined") over the weekend has been charged with murder, police said. Maurice Stephon Phillips, 30, fled after the shooting in the family’s home on Saturday and later turned himself in to authorities, saying he had [accidentally shot his daughter](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20160413%5FFather%5F%5FI%5Faccidentally%5Fshot%5F%5Fkilled%5F4-year-old%5Fgirl.html "undefined") while playing with the gun, the Philadelphia _Inquirer_ reports. He was charged with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children, possession an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person, according to the newspaper. Phillips was being held without bail after his Monday arraignment, the _Inquirer_ said. The girl was shot once in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to [ABC 6](http://6abc.com/news/police-id-man-charged-in-fatal-shooting-of-4-year-old-/1294831/ "undefined"). \[[_Inquirer_](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160419%5FFather%5Fcharged%5Fin%5Fshooting%5Fdeath%5Fof%5Fgirl%5F%5F4.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4297445/philadelphia-father-shoot-daughter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4297445/philadelphia-father-shoot-daughter/"},"headline":"Philadelphia Father Charged With Fatally Shooting His 4-Year-Old Daughter","datePublished":"2016-04-18T16:07:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:30:42.318Z","description":"He told police he was playing with the gun when he accidentally shot her","url":"https://time.com/4297445/philadelphia-father-shoot-daughter/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4297445/philadelphia-father-shoot-daughter/","name":"Philadelphia Father Charged With Fatally Shooting His 4-Year-Old Daughter"}}]}] ```