LANSING (AP) — A 44-year-old Michigan man has been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in the death of a 2-year-old boy who died after accidentally shooting himself with a gun he found in an SUV.
The charge was announced Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. The Associated Press is not using the man’s name pending a court arraignment.
The man has previous convictions that include carrying a concealed weapon, carjacking, fleeing police and brandishing a firearm during the commission of a violent felony, according to court documents.
The boy and his mother were in an SUV that was stopped Oct. 24 at a gas station in Lansing while the man went inside. The woman told police that the boy climbed into the front seat and that she was on the phone and not paying attention when she heard an “explosion,” court documents said.
Surveillance video showed the woman getting out of the vehicle holding the boy, a gun fall from the vehicle and a small bullet hole in the SUV’s window. It also showed the man putting the gun back in the vehicle and driving away.
The child died at a hospital and the man was arrested later the same day.
Days later, police found the gun’s barrel hidden inside wall insulation in a Lansing home. The SUV was found burned in a field.
