Man arrested in toddler’s shooting death/ Updated

Posted: Thursday, Mar 06, 2008 - 11:35:35 am MST The Daily Inter Lake An 18-month-old girl was shot in the head and died Wednesday night and the Evergreen man who was taking care of her is in jail. Dwayne Scott Smail, 23, was arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide and is in custody pending formal charges by the Flathead County Attorney’s Office. Smail called 911 at 8:21 p.m. Wednesday from the Montana Village apartment complex on Montana 35 in Evergreen to report that a child had been shot in the head, according to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. * The toddler had access to the loaded 9 mm handgun that resulted in her death. She died at the scene. Smail, who was in a relationship with the toddler’s mother, was caring for the girl in an apartment the three shared. The mother was at work when the shooting occurred, Flathead County Undersheriff Pete Wingert said. No one else was home at the time. Smail was taken to the Kalispell police station and arrested after an interview with investigators. The toddler’s body was taken to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula for a forensic autopsy. A blood-spatter analysis is being conducted at the apartment, said Wingert. For more on this story, read Friday’s Daily Inter Lake.