A father of a three-year-old Sydney girl found dead of a gunshot wound to the neck has been charged with firearm offences.
Paramedics were called to the Lalor Park home in the city's west about 8pm on Sunday amid reports a child had been shot after finding a weapon.
Forensic officers remained at the house on Monday. Four other children aged between three and eight were in the home at the time of the shooting.
One shot was fired, police say.
"At the time of the incident, the child's mother and other children were in the house and the child's father was nearby," NSW Police Quakers Hill Commander, Superintendent Paul Carrett, told reporters.
"The death of a three-year-old child under any circumstances is tragic. It is tragic for the family and it is tragic for the police and other emergency services who attend these scenes."
Neighbours spoke of hysterical scenes after the shooting, with the mother coming outside into the street screaming "Not my baby girl, not my baby girl" and "I hate you".
"The mother came out she was ...really angry. And she was just screaming," the neighbour Mark Tapua told media on Monday.
"She was just saying - it was his fault. He shouldn't have had a gun in the house."
He said the father just came out of the house screaming and crying.
Police confirmed later on Monday the girl's 43-year-old father had been charged.
"A 43-year-old man from Arncliffe has been charged with several firearm offences and a contravention of apprehended violence order. He is the father of the child who passed away,"
Television footage from the scene showed a woman, thought to be the mother, screaming "I hate you... may you rot in hell", as she was taken away in an ambulance, while a man was sitting in the gutter with his head in his hands.
The father will face Blacktown Local Court on Monday.
