A 69-year-old Natchez resident died Wednesday after accidentally shooting herself at her residence.

Dorothy Cupit, of 14 T. Waring Bennett Road, was shot when she dropped a .22-caliber hand gun that evening.

Police think the gun hit a metal bed frame causing it to fire, said Natchez Police Chief Willie Huff.

&uot;We just feel it’s an accidental death,&uot; Huff said. &uot;It appears at this time this was an accidental shooting.&uot;

Police arrived at the scene after receiving a call at 9:21 p.m. to assist an ambulance at Cupit’s residence, Huff said. Cupit lived in Jeffersonian apartments – a development of independent apartments for the elderly. She was alone in her bedroom and may have been moving the gun from under a mattress when it fired, Huff said.

&uot;It appears she dropped the weapon … and it fired, struck her in the body and caused her death,&uot; Huff said.

After being shot &uot;she made it out in the hall were she called for some help.&uot;

After paramedics arrived she was transported to Natchez Regional Medical Center where she was pronounced dead. Huff said the gun was an older model probably made in the 1950s or 1960s that did not have a safety on it, Huff said. Police believe the one shot from the weapon struck Cupit in the torso.