Mom arrested after 4-year-old girl shot multiple times in Monroe
Monroe shooting leaves 4-year-old girl in ICU
A 31-year-old mother faces child cruelty and assault charges after confessing to shooting her 4-year-old daughter inside a Monroe home, according to police.
MONROE, Ga. - A 31-year-old mother is in custody facing a slew of felony charges after her 4-year-old daughter was shot multiple times inside a Monroe home late Thursday night.
What we know:
Officers with the City of Monroe Police Department were dispatched to the 700 block of Ridge Road at approximately 9:44 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, 2026, following a "trouble unknown" call.
Police say a 12-year-old girl answered the door and told arriving officers her younger sister was bleeding inside. Officers went upstairs and found Ashley Brown holding her 4-year-old daughter, who was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Responding officers immediately rendered emergency first aid, physically carried the wounded child away from the scene, and transferred her to Walton County EMS paramedics where they were rushed to an Atlanta-area pediatric trauma hospital,
As of Friday morning, police confirmed the 4-year-old remains in serious condition inside the hospital's intensive care unit.
Detectives placed the child's mother, identified as Ashley Brown, 31, of Monroe, into custody.
Brown faces the following criminal counts:
- Aggravated assault
- Aggravated battery
- Cruelty to children in the first degree (2 counts)
- Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony
- Discharging a firearm within 300 feet of a roadway
Ashley Brown, 31, of Monroe (Walton County Sheriff's Office).
What we don't know:
Investigators have not determined what led to the shooting or what the mother was thinking at the time.
Authorities have not released an updated medical condition for the 4-year-old girl following her transport to the hospital.
What's next:
Police say Brown confessed to shooting her own daughter during the incident.
Brown is being held at the Walton County Jail. She faces several criminal offenses, including aggravated assault and child cruelty.
What they're saying:
Neighbor Robert Carter was shocked over the violence in his own complex.
"It’s very disturbing," Carter said. "It’s scary that somebody could be shot in this neighborhood. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen around here."
Neighbor Janice Dion saw the commotion. "There were blue lights flashing everywhere and I was wondering ‘what was going on?’" DION SAID. "police were running around everywhere. about two or three minutes later, there was a police officer carrying the little girl to the ambulance."
Monroe Police Chief R.V. Watts called the event a terrible tragedy.
"For that little girl to be a victim of such an evil crime, being shot multiple times, you can only imagine what’s going through that child’s head," Watts said.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the Monroe Police Department, including statements from Police Chief R.V. Watts, local neighbors who witnessed the police response, and reporting from FOX 5's Christopher King.