This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

An Indiana couple face charges after investigators say they found cellphone videos showing the woman’s 12-month-old daughter putting a handgun in her mouth.

Evansville police discovered the videos after a 19-year-old man was arrested for trying to sell a handgun to an undercover officer.

Police say the man and the girl’s 22-year-old mother can be heard on the videos, encouraging the toddler to say “pow”, and that no one tried to stop her as she put the gun in her mouth.

Police say the mother told officers the girl was holding a pellet gun – investigators say it was a .40-caliber handgun. They say the gun’s magazine appeared to have been removed but it is not clear if ammunition was in the chamber.

Both adults face charges including child neglect and recklessness with a deadly weapon.