A Las Vegas mother shot her boyfriend after he allegedly threw her 5-year-daughter from a third-floor balcony because he believed the little girl “was full of bad spirits.”

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said they responded to a call Sunday afternoon and found the unconscious child, who was taken to the hospital, and man with gunshot wounds to his hand and his abdomen, KLAS reported.

The child’s mother told officers that Jarick Willis, 32, had thrown her daughter off their apartment balcony and that she shot him because “she believed Jarick had just killed” her daughter and she feared for her life and that of her other children, who were at home at the time.

The daughter suffered a fractured forearm, pelvis, leg, and rib, a collapsed lung, and a lacerated liver, police wrote in a report. At the time the report was submitted, the little girl was still in pediatric intensive care, where she was  listed in stable condition, according to KSNV.

Willis was booked and charged in in absentia with attempted murder and child abuse. He was still hospitalized on Tuesday, and it’s not clear if he has been transported to jail. Jail records show he has been given a $150,000 bond.

The girl’s mother told detectives that she had been dating Willis since March and that on Saturday he had said he believed the girl “was full of bad spirits,” “had bad entities” and “essentially … believed she was a demon,” according to the arrest report. The mother “told him to stop talking about her daughter in that way, to which she indicated Jarick apologized to her,” KLAS said

On Sunday, the mother was the bedroom when her son began screaming that Willis had thrown the girl off the balcony. The rushed into the living room and saw Willis leaning over the balcony. Her daughter was on the ground below, KTNV said.

The woman “reiterated several times to detectives she was in fear for her life and her children’s lives due [to] believing Jarick killed” her daughter and so armed herself, the arrest report said. The two struggled, and the mother shot Willis, who stumbled into the living room and jumped from the balcony. Police followed the trail of blood and took him into custody.

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