JACKSONVIILE, Fla. – A 12-year-old girl shot in the head early Sunday morning during a birthday party sleepover in the city’s Lackawanna neighborhood is on life support at UF Health, the girl's family told News4Jax on Monday.

The shooting happened inside a home on Willow Branch Avenue, near McDuff Avenue and Beaver Street just before 2 a.m., the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.

The woman who was hosting the birthday party for eight children said she was sleeping when she heard the gunshot. She said one of the children found a gun at an unlocked, neighboring home that is currently unoccupied.

The woman said that the 12-year-old girl was lying on a couch sleeping when an 11-year-old boy accidentally shot at her, striking her in the ear and in the left side of the head.

“Please forgive us if you can,” the woman said. “We can do what we need to do, but we can't change it. It happened. I'm sorry y'all. I'm sorry it happened. We don't know what happened, but it happened.”

The girl was taken to UF Health Jacksonville with serious injuries.

Neighbor Belden Byer told News4Jax that the girl lives a couple houses down the street from where she was shot.

“It almost brings tears to my eyes because I lost my brother just about the same way," Byer said. "I would never have thought that would have happened.”