GRAND RAPIDS — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten on Monday announced that Emma Huver, 26, of Lansing, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Huver previously pleaded guilty to possessing a purple 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol in her car on October 24, 2023, when her 2-year-old son suffered a gunshot wound and later died. She had previously been convicted of a felony drug offense in 2020.
”Today’s sentencing brings us closer to securing a measure of justice for this senseless loss of life,” said Totten. “The tragic death of this 2-year-old boy, due to the accidental discharge of a gun that wasn’t properly stored, could have been prevented. We must keep guns out of the hands of those who cannot legally possess them and do everything we can in our fight against the gun violence epidemic that is now the number one cause of death for our youngest, ages 0-19.”
Two other Lansing residents are also charged in the indictment. Avis Coward, 44, pleaded guilty to possessing the purple gun and another pistol. Gina Schieberl, 27, pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence. Coward is scheduled to be sentenced on October 2 and Schieberl is scheduled to be sentenced on October 21.
As alleged, on October 24, 2023, Coward got out of a car at a Lansing gas station and went inside, leaving a 2-year-old child and the child’s mother, Huver, in the car. Surveillance video showed that a minute later a bullet hole appeared in the car window. Huver got out of the car holding her child, who had blood on his face from a gunshot wound. As she did so, Coward’s gun fell out of the car. Huver handed the child to Coward, who then passed the child to a third person who took the victim into the gas station and attempted to control the bleeding until medical personnel arrived. Coward returned to the car, picked up the gun off the ground, and put it back in the car. The surveillance video also showed Coward use his hand to break out the front passenger window, which had the bullet hole. Coward then drove away. The child later died from his injuries.
Police later found the car, which was found burned-out and abandoned in a field in Lansing, and a .45 caliber Springfield Armory semiautomatic pistol, the barrel of which was found disassembled and hidden in the wall of a house in Lansing.