TAMPA — Jessica Wright thought she emptied the gun.

After one of her teenage children brought a weapon home Thursday night, Wright took control and unloaded it, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

But, in the chamber, one round remained.

Wright, 33, accidentally fired the gun, hitting her 52-year-old mother, Carolyn Wright, in the upper body just after midnight Friday, killing her, deputies said.

"All I heard was a popping and then a whole bunch of screaming," said the victim's own mother, Rosie Wright, 70, asleep at the time in a Town 'N Country home shared by nine people across four generations.

Carolyn Wright was a devout churchgoer known for helping the needy.

After the shooting, one teen who lives at the home panicked and threw the gun into a storm drain near the home at 8202 Pinehurst Circle, deputies reported. They recovered the gun and were investigating how and where it was obtained.

A description of the weapon was not released.

The Wrights lived at the home with Jessica's four children — ages 17, 15, 13 and 8 — and two other family members. Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said detectives were still working to confirm which of the teens brought the gun home. The circumstances of its firing were also under investigation.

"All preliminary indications are that it was accidental," she said.

A steady stream of family and friends, some in tears, visited the home Friday morning as television news trucks idled in the street.

Aliya Wright, 15, said her mother had gone to a friend's house. "She needed to get away," she said.

In a brief interview, Rosie Wright called her daughter a nice, caring person.

"And she loved her grandchildren," Wright said.

Carolyn Wright's church family called her "the coffee lady."

Before Wednesday and Sunday services, Wright would arrive early at Harvest Time Worship Center to make sure congregants were greeted by a fresh pot of coffee, said Pastor Sheila Ramdial.

Carolyn Wright used to work as a cashier at Walmart but started having trouble with her kidneys and went on disability several years ago, Ramdial said. Wright rarely missed church, often coming straight from one of her thrice-weekly dialysis sessions. She was quick to crack jokes and helped organize monthly outreach missions to a local mobile home park to offer food, clothing and prayer to people in need.

At church on Wednesday night, Wright wanted to know when the next visit would be, Ramdial said.

"She truly had a servant's heart," she said.

Ramdial said she has been fielding calls from members of her small flock, some of them weeping, all of them devastated by the loss. The pastor is comforting them the same way she is trying to ease the burden on Wright's family.

"I tell them she's in heaven right now, rejoicing," Ramdial said. "She's in a better place."

Times senior news researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Contact Tony Marrero at tampabay.com or (813) 226-3374. Follow @tmarrerotimes.