Three-year-old Kills Self with Father’s Gun Left on Bedroom Floor

In a Nashville, Tennessee apartment, three-year-old Aydeen Pruitt found his father’s pistol on a bedroom floor and fatally shot himself in the head. The toddler’s father, 23-year-old D’Andre Pruitt, told police he had put the gun on the floor but didn’t realize that Aydeen was in the room. Aydeen’s twin brother and a 14-year-old were also in the apartment at the time of the shooting. Pruitt was arrested on multiple counts including reckless homicide and child neglect.

A neighbor describes seeing police chase after Aydeen’s mother. “She kept … crying ‘no not my child, not my child.’” Relatives shared with reporters that Aydeen’s four-year-old sister Taliyah Frazier was killed last summer in a drive-by shooting.

Sources:

Danielle Ledbetter, “‘I Wouldn’t Wish That on My Worst Enemy’: Neighbors Send Condolences After 3-year-old Accidentally Shot, Killed in East Nashville,” wsmv.com (July 25, 2024).

Caleb Wethington, Chuck Morris, “Dad of 3-year-old Shot and Killed Surrenders to Police,” wsmv.com (July 25, 2024).