Girl, 11, accidentally kills teenage stepfather with gun he'd bought just hours earlier



An 11-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed her step father, 19, with a gun he had bought only hours earlier.



Bryan Reno, of North Carolina, allowed the young girl to handle the .380-caliber handgun having taken the precaution of removing the magazine.



But police said he had failed to check the chamber and when the girl pulled the trigger he was shot in the chest.



Tragic: Bryan Reno, 19, (right) was accidentally shot in the chest and killed by his 11-year-old stepdaughter while his 35-year-old wife Pamela (left) was sleeping

Police in Cleveland County, North Carolina, ruled the shooting accidental. The incident took place just outside the town of Mooresboro.



The victim's widow Pamela Reno, 35, posted a message on her Facebook page after her younger husband's death.

She wrote: 'To all of my husband's friends, he died last night at home. I'm so sorry but I miss and love my husband so much. May he r.I.p. I love u babydoll til death. Always and forever.'



Sheriff Alan Norman said Reno had acquired the gun within 24 hours of the shooting.



Heartbreak: Pamelo Reno wrote on her Facebook wall: 'To all of my husband's friends, he died last night at home. I'm so sorry but I miss and love my husband so much.'

He said that on Friday evening, while Pamela slept, Bryan showed the gun to his stepdaughter.



At one point, Reno removed the magazine slide from the firearm and handed the gun to her to examine, Norman said.



'During the course of her looking at the firearm, it's apparent that she pulled the trigger of the firearm and it discharged,' Norman said.



'It just appears he failed to check the chamber to make sure there was not a bullet in the chamber, and it turned fatal,' the sheriff continued.



Sad: Cleveland County sheriff said Bryan Reno had acquired the gun (not pictured here) in the 24 hours before the tragic accident

Neighbors said the family had recently moved into the area.



Sheriff Norman said he couldn't remember the last accidental shooting in the county.

