Seven-month-old Killed by Ten-year-old Uncle With Her Father’s Gun

In a home in St. Louis, Missouri, a ten-year-old boy retrieved a gun stored under a mattress, and shot and killed his seven-month-old niece, Kiyomi Parker. Police performed lifesaving procedures as they rushed Kiyomi to the hospital, but she was later pronounced dead.

Witnesses identified the ten-year-old boy as the shooter. The boy told police he knew where the gun was stored, and he had been able to access it for some time having taken the gun out before. Kiyomi’s father, 19-year-old Ca’Marion Pawnell, told police the gun was his, and confirmed the boy’s story by acknowledging that he stored the gun under the mattress.

In an unusual move, the ten-year-old was charged with first-degree murder. Missouri law allows for this, but experts emphasize that a juvenile under the age of twelve is prohibited from standing trial as an adult. A criminal justice associate professor noted that children of that age are not cognitively developed enough to understand the full consequences of their actions. The case will proceed within the family court-juvenile division exclusively, where the focus is on protection and rehabilition.

Pawnell has been charged with second-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, and endangering the welfare of a child creating substantial risk.

Sources:

“Father of 7-month-old Killed Charged with 2nd Degree Murder,” firstalert4.com (June 28, 2026).

Brent Solomon, “Grieving Mother Who Lost 7-month-old to Gun Violence Chooses Love After Loss,,” ksdk.com (June 29, 2026).