Three-year-old shot in the head has died

KSDK -- A three-year-old girl shot in the head while walking in her yard has died.  That's according to the Gasconade County Sheriff's Department.

The sheriff's department said it was dispatched to a home on Highway EE south of Owensville, Missouri shortly after noon Monday.

When deputies arrived, they found the victim, identified as Allison Schneider, with a gunshot wound to the head.

An investigation revealed that a neighbor had been firing a 9mm handgun at a target on his property that in the line of sight of where the girl was shot.  The distance was approximately 365 yards.

"We had people both where the victim was at and where the shooter was at and you can't see each other because of the undergrowth. So, it was not a direct line where you could look across and see another person, you couldn't seen anybody that was over there," Sheriff Randy Esphorst said.

Schneider and two others had been walking from her house toward a fenced area to look at some livestock.  Not knowing what was going on after seeing Schneider fall to the ground, the other two took cover in a nearby silo.  They were not hurt.

Schneider was hospitalized at St. Louis Childrens Hospital.

The person who fired the gun is reportedly cooperating with investigators.