MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 3-year-old boy has died after being shot in the head in Westwood.
Police say the tragic accident happened on on Tonawanda Cove Sunday night.
The boy’s mother, Tinesha Jackson told police her friend, Tedrick Butler, left his AR-15 firearm in her bedroom when they left to go get food.
Police said the 3-year-old and his 4-year-old brother stayed home in their uncle’s care.
The uncle told police he was asleep on the couch when he heard a gunshot. The 4-year-old boy came out of the room and said his brother had been shot.
When he went into the room, he found the 3-year-old boy shot and the gun on top of a storage box.
Investigators say, Tinesha Jackson quickly returned home, called police, and then rushed her baby to the hospital where he died.
Back at the house, police found bullet casings, a backpack containing drugs, two AR-style pistols, and another pistol that had been illegally converted to fire fully automatic behind the house.
Butler was charged with criminally negligent homicide, tampering with evidence along with a drug and gun charges.
According to court records, he admitted to police that he left the pistol in Jackson’s bedroom and hid the weapons after the fact.
Butler’s bond has been set at $200,000.
Jackson told police that she knew butler had brought the gun into her home and that she knew it was unsecured in her bedroom.
Jackson was charged with criminally negligent homicide.
She was was released on her own recognizance.
