PUBLIC SAFETY

Questions surround Indy child's fatal shooting

By Jill Disis

Most of the homes lining the 1800 block of East 68th Street are unremarkable — little one- or two-story properties with a small driveway. Maybe even a garage.

But not the house at the end of the street.

The property stands apart. A tall chain-link fence runs around the perimeter; several "Private: Keep Out" signs adorn the few parts of the fence that aren't also reinforced with wooden boards or obscured by foliage. But there was something new there as well: a blue stuffed frog and a child's action figure toy placed on the ground next to the gate.

It's this house in the city's Ravenswood neighborhood on the Northside that police say played host to a terrible tragedy Saturday night where a family is grieving after a 3-year-old boy pulled a loaded gun off a kitchen counter and shot himself in the head.

The boy, who has not been identified, was taken to Riley Hospital for Children in critical condition and died just before midnight. As of Sunday night, Chris Wilburn, a spokesman for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, said a preliminary investigation indicated the child's death was accidental and no one has been charged in his death.

Wilburn said Saturday that the parents and a 4-year-old sister of the boy were home at the time of the shooting and that all were taken to the police station and questioned, though he said they were not considered suspects.

But more than a day after the shooting, many questions are left unanswered.

What type of gun was it?

Who did it belong to?

Why was it left sitting, loaded, on a kitchen counter where a child could reach it?

"It is still being investigated," said IMPD Lt. Chris Bailey, who declined to comment further about whom the gun may have belonged to or whether there were any other specific circumstances in the shooting.

Other details are muddled, and no one else is talking: The pathway leading to the front door of the home was padlocked Sunday, and several neighbors declined to comment on the incident.

It's also unclear whether any charges may be forthcoming from the Marion County prosecutor's office even if the cause of death is ruled accidental.

A Morgan County woman pleaded guilty to neglect and was sentenced in 2012 to eight years in prison with all but six months suspended, after her older son fatally shot his 6-year-old brother with a rifle and ammunition that she left unsecured in her home.

An Indianapolis man was sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a neglect charge in 2008, when his 5-year-old son fatally shot his 4-year-old sister with a handgun found on a bookcase in the downstairs living room.

There have been at least a dozen accidental shootings of children in Central Indiana since 2008.

But legal experts say it's too early to tell what legal actions might stem out of this weekend's incident.

"It could be a serious felony charge," said Joel Schumm, a professor of criminal law at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis. "But there would have to be quite a bit of evidence that the parents knew the gun was there and the child had access to it."

Regardless of the circumstances, gun safety advocates say it's a case that highlights the importance of proper gun use and storage — even if the parents didn't believe the child would be able to grab the gun.

"The two leading causes of firearm accidents are ignorance and carelessness. If you're ignorant of safe gun-handling rules, you're an accident waiting to happen," said Randy DeWitt, a certified trainer who runs firearms-handling courses through Indy Gun Safety in Fishers.

"You have to lock your firearms up."

Star reporter Dana Hunsinger Benbow contributed to this story.

Call Star reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis