No bail for dad of 3-year-old killed in apparent accidental shooting
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - MORE: Two people were killed and 41 wounded over the weekend of July 19-21.
The family members initially said they found Mikah shot in the face in another room with a gun near him. However, a bond proffer said Mikah was playing on the floor in the same room with the rest of his family. Prosecutors wrote in the bond proffer that Ronald Davis was in the bedroom with Mikah’s mother and their 10-month-old child when the incident happened.
Davis and Mikah’s mother said they weren’t paying attention to the little boy when they heard a loud noise from the floor shortly after getting into bed, according to the proffer. They saw Mikah bleeding from the face and called 911.
They both said they assumed the child shot himself but didn’t see the shooting happen nor did they see a gun near him on the floor, the proffer said.
The proffer said Mikah’s parents were uncooperative with investigators, refusing to give information about the gun involved. Police searched their house and found it wrapped in a T-shirt in a toolbox on the porch.
The gun didn’t discharge its cartridge case, signaling that the trigger wasn’t pulled with enough force, the proffer said. This is consistent with Mikah’s parents’ explanation that the boy shot himself, the proffer said, but police don’t know how the gun ended up in the toolbox.
In a series of statements to police, Davis said he thought he had the gun in a nightstand drawer, but then said he thought it was in a shoebox, the proffer said. He said he didn’t see the gun and “had no idea what happened to it.”
MORE: Nine people were killed and 32 wounded over the weekend of July 12-14.
Davis allegedly said he knew he shouldn’t have a gun as a convicted felon but got the 9mm weapon days before the shooting to protect his home, the proffer said. In another statement, he said he hadn’t touched the gun since the Friday before and wasn’t sure how his son got the gun.
The results of Mikah’s autopsy were pending Tuesday, but Guglielmi said police would pursue additional charges if the findings prove the death wasn’t accidental. In the meantime, Mikah’s 10-month-old sibling has been placed in protective custody, Guglielmi said.
Court records show Ronald Davis was convicted of a felony count of manufacture or delivery of cannabis and sentenced to probation in 2011. He was later sent to Cook County Jail for 60 days in 2013 when he violated the conditions of that probation.
While that conviction prohibits him from owning a gun, Davis’ only other listed conviction is for misdemeanor cannabis possession in 2013, court records show.
“We are concerned on how a firearm ended up in that house, how it ended up unsecured and certainly how it ended up in the hands of a 3-year-old child,” CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Chicago Sun-Times.