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Mother Gets Arrested After Child Writes a Story In Her Kindergarten Class About Her Firing a Gun

"Mother and father got into a fight."

A Tennessee mother was arrested after her kindergartener wrote a story about the woman firing a gun during a fight with the child's father. Kaydra Johnson, 28, was arrested by sheriff's deputies outside her Arlington home last week and charged with four counts of child endangerment. Authorities responded after an elementary school counselor contacted the Tennessee Department of Children's Services. The counselor reported possible child abuse after Johnson's daughter wrote about an argument between her parents that involved gunfire, WREG reported. Read on to find out more, including what the child's story said and the mother's account of what happened. 

What the Kindergartner Wrote

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"Mother and father got into a fight. Mom told him to get out because he was smoking too much. Father hit mother in the eye. Mother said look what you've done," the kindergartner wrote. "Mother got the gun from under the bed. I was in the living room, and my sisters and brother were in the room. Mother pulled the gun on father and shot three times. The bullets hit the wall. Mother told him to sleep in his car in the driveway and not to come back or she will shoot him again."

Authorities Found Mother Outside House

Shelby County Sheriff's Office

When sheriff's deputies responded to the home, they found Johnson walking around outside. She said she had been locked out for about an hour. Deputies forced open the garage door and found a one-year-old and four-year-old child inside, who appeared to be fine, WREG reported. The deputies observed bullet holes in the walls of the living room, bedroom and hallway. 

Mother Allegedly Admitted Firing Gun Near Children

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Deputies said Johnson admitted to firing at least two shots at her husband but said that happened after he entered the home without her permission and hit her with his fist and a vacuum cleaner. She had a cut and bruising around her right eye, WREG reported. Johnson said three of her children were sitting on the couch, and a fourth child was in the bathroom during the fight. She said her husband wasn't hurt.

Relatives Assumed Custody of the Children

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The state's department of children's services gave custody of two children to their grandmother and two to their aunt. Deputies seized two guns from the home, the news outlet reported. Johnson was released on her own recognizance and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 23.

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Case of 6-Year-Old Shooter Moves Forward

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The story comes a month after a six-year-old in Newport News, Virginia, allegedly shot his first-grade teacher with a gun he'd brought from home and stashed in his backpack. His parents said he has an "acute disability" and had been accompanying him to class, a practice they stopped a week before the shooting. The teacher, who was hit in the chest and has recently been released from the hospital, plans to sue the school district, as do parents of the children in the shooter's class. They say school administrators didn't do enough to prevent the shooting.

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