A mother in Indianapolis, Indiana is speaking out about gun safety after her 6-old-year accidentally shot herself with a loaded handgun.

Ebony Parker said that her daughter, Aviana, found the loaded handgun in the back room of a relative’s apartment and “started playing with it.”

“She thought it was a toy,” Parker said, but she “ended up dropping it, and then it went off.”

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The bullet struck Aviana in the arm.

Parker was at work at the time the shooting occurred, but she immediately rushed to the hospital after being informed of it. According to Ebony, that’s where she’s spent much of her time in the month since.

“The last bill I received was from Riley [Hospital for Children] for almost $10,000 and some change,” Parker said. “And ambulance bill that was almost $5,000. I’m just having bills pile up and pile up.”

Parker does not have health coverage through her work, and is struggling to get assistance from Medicaid.

“I just got another denial letter on Friday,” she told RTV6.

Parker is planning a benefit this Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., where she hopes both to raise funds for Aviana’s care and awareness about gun safety.

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“A lot of people know about gun safety, but a lot of people don’t think about certain things…like as far as my daughter, I would have never thought that she would pick up a real gun and play with it.”

Watch the June 20, 2014 report on the incident via RTV6 below.