A woman whose 4-year-old son accidentally shot himself with a gun she left in her car will not face any criminal charges, prosecutors said Friday.
"There is no evidence that Denise Jackson acted with the purpose to neglect Kevin on May 3, 2014," Chief Deputy District Attorney
Kent Lovern said in a written statement.
Kent Lovern said in a written statement.
According to Lovern:
Jackson and a friend drove to St. Vincent de Paul to purchase a television. Jackson, who has a license to carry a concealed weapon, stored her weapon in her car's glove compartment before entering the store.
. Jackson, who has a license to carry a concealed weapon, stored her weapon in her car's glove compartment before entering the store.
After buying the television, Jackson and the friend returned to Jackson's home near N. 106th St. and W. Brown Deer Road on Milwaukee's northwest side, parked in the rear and carried the television to a second-floor bedroom.
While she was inside, Jackson learned from another child that Kevin had shot himself inside her car. She told investigators the boy was not present when she returned from the store, and that she thought she had locked her car's doors.
The boy was in critical condition days after the shooting.
Lovern wrote that a person responsible for the welfare of the child "must have the purpose to contribute to the neglect of the child or was aware that the person's action or failure to take action was practically certain to cause that result."
He wrote that Smith putting the gun in the glove box, in a car she thought was locked, was not "practically certain" to contribute to her son's neglect.
"Each case is evaluated on its individual facts," he wrote. "The circumstances leading to this young child gaining possession of a firearm are tragic but do not support criminal prosecution."
She thought it was locked, but it was not. A mistake that led to a child's death. If there are no consequences for our mistakes we (and others) will not learn and will continue to make the same mistakes.
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