BEEBE -- A 7-year-old girl has died of injuries suffered when she was shot last week.
Beebe's Police Department issued a statement Monday saying it had upgraded the charge on which Jeremiah Owens was arrested from first-degree battery to manslaughter. Owens, 26, remained in the White County jail in Searcy on Monday in lieu of $50,000 bond.
Police did not release the child's name. A Beebe police officer who answered the phone Monday said police were not doing so because she was a child.
Little Rock television station KARK-TV, Channel 4 identified the child as Karma Wezowicz and televised an interview with her father, Matthew Wezowicz, before she died Saturday afternoon.
In the interview, Wezowicz told KARK that Owens was a friend of Wezowicz and had gone to Wezowicz's house and was looking at a gun that Wezowicz had recently bought when the weapon discharged and the girl was shot.
"I looked back at him and I asked him, what did you do?" Wezowicz told KARK.
For Wezowicz, his daughter's death is his second family death in the past few months. His wife and Karma's mother, Renata Wezowicz, died about three months ago of sickle cell anemia, KARK reported.
Owens has an April 4 hearing in White County Circuit in Searcy.
Prosecuting Attorney Rebecca Reed McCoy said she expects to file formal charges after she gets the report from the Beebe Police Department. Formal charges often come later than those on which police arrest a suspect and are not always the same.
Wezowicz could not be reached for comment Monday.
State Desk on 03/07/2017