A four-year-old who fatally shot himself in the head Thursday night was left alone in a bedroom with a loaded gun and the safety off, according to the NOPD affidavit for an arrest warrant.
Police also said that the gun was reported as stolen in St. Bernard Parish.
According to the arrest warrant, the child who was killed, 4-year-old Keith Jermal Jones Jr., was at a home in the 7000 block of Martin Drive with his father, Keith Jones Sr., and his maternal grandmother.
Police said that Jones Sr. told them that he placed the handgun without the safety on under the pillow on his bed. Later that evening his son came into the room and asked for something to drink so Jones Sr. left the room to get a drink for his son, who was left unattended with the loaded gun.
The victim then found the weapon under the pillow and accidentally shot himself in the eye. Police arrived on the scene shortly after 10:30 and the child was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead shortly after 11 p.m.
The arrest warrant also stated that the gun had been reported stolen out of St. Bernard Parish.
The warrant said that leaving the child in a bed with a loaded gun and the safety off was “well below the standard of care expected to be maintained by a reasonably careful person.
Jones Sr. was booked with negligent homicide and possession of stolen things.
"I don't know what happened," said Kwan Wynn, Jones' mother. "I just got a phone call from his dad saying that he had been shot... A gun was in the house and he found it."
Jones Sr. was booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center on one count of negligent homicide.
"Please be careful and watch the babies in the house around guns," Stokes said. "It just takes a few minutes and your whole life will be upside down."
Family members say that Jones Jr. was supposed to begin Pre-K at Capdau in just two weeks.
At a press conference Friday, Interim NOPD Chief Michelle Woodfork stressed the importance of gun safety.
"This is what guns do. This is what not securing a gun does, we're giving these locks out for free," Woodfork said. "Take these gun safety classes, it could be the difference between one of your children not being here."