Toddler Left Alone in Car Kills Self with Unsecured Gun

A 2-year-old boy shot and killed himself while left unattended in a car in Lansing, Michigan. “Both adults exited the vehicle, leaving the child in there with an unsecured firearm,” said the police chief. The toddler was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition, but later died. A 44-year-old man initially fled the scene, but was later found and arrested by police. So far, investigators have not been able to locate the gun.

The chief emphasized the need for gun owners to secure their weapons. “Do you want to be responsible for somebody like a 2-year-old child, the most innocent of the innocent, to get injured or die because you just didn’t secure your firearm?”

Update (December, 2023):

More information has emerged about this incident based on court proceedings. Avis Damone Coward was newly indicted by a grand jury for being a felon in possession of a firearm, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, and tampering with evidence. He had originally been charged with accidental discharge of a gun leading to the child’s death.

On the day of the incident, surveillance video shows Coward exiting the vehicle, leaving the 2-year-old and his mother in the car. Minutes later a bullet hole appears in the car window; with the mother soon emerging from the vehicle holding her bloodied child, who was taken into the gas station to wait for medical personnel. Coward returned to the vehicle, picked up his gun that had fallen from the car, broke the window that had the bullet hole, and drove off. The car was found burned-out and abandoned with a .45 caliber Springfield Armory semiautomatic pistol. The barrel of the gun was disassembled and later found in the wall of a house in Lansing. The boy’s mother and another woman also face multiple charges.

Source:

McKoy Scribner, “Toddler Dies After Shooting Self with Unsecured Gun,” wins.com (October 26, 2023).

Sources for Update:

Phil Helsel, “Michigan Man Charged After Toddler Fatally Shoots Self With His Gun, Prosecutors Say,” nbcnews.com (December 13, 2023)

“New Charges in Case Related to Two-Year-Old Child In Lansing Who Died After Accidental Discharge of Gun,” justice.gov (December 13, 2023).