Child’s gun play results in death of 4-year-old girl, father arrested

ROCHELLE, Ga. – A four year old girl is dead and her father behind bars after the girl was shot in the head while she and her three-year-old brother were playing with a loaded gun.

Wednesday police arrested Johnny Lee Kellam, 28, of Rochelle, following the Tuesday shooting death of his daughter Hope Ja’Nyah Marie Kellam inside Johnny’s home.

Police said the firearm was not secured.

Johnny Kellam is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, tampering with physical evidence, giving false statements and reckless conduct. He is lodged in the Crisp County Detention Center.

At 2 p.m. Tuesday, Kellam came to the Rochelle Police Department and reported that his daughter had been shot, according to a release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Shortly after that report, the Wilcox County Sheriff’s Officers received information that Kellam traveled to Seville where he dropped off his daughter’s body with family before leaving the home, according to the release.

The Wilcox County Coroner pronounced Hope Kellam dead.

An autopsy shows that Hope died from a single gunshot wound to the head while she and her younger brother played with a gun inside of their father’s home at 151 C Alley Ave., Rochelle.