Charges have been filed in the death of a 3-year-old boy who apparently died from a gunshot wound to his head after finding a loaded gun.
Roy Dean Pauza-Moore, 26, is charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter, child endangerment by firearm access and negligent storage of a firearm.
Just after 9:00 p.m. on Aug. 8, Pine County Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of an incident at a home on the 500 block of 1st Street Southwest in Hinckley, Minnesota. When deputies arrived, they learned a 3-year-old child had died.
Pauza-Moore met the first deputy in the driveway of the home and led him to an upstairs bedroom. The criminal complaint states that his roommate was tending to the child on the bed. Records show the 3-year old was pronounced dead at 9:26 p.m. The Medical Examiner’s Office determined he died from the gunshot.
According to investigators, they found a 9mm pistol on a shelf on top of a gun cabinet on the bedroom wall. Pauza-Moore admitted to police he left the loaded and unlocked gun in the same room as his child while he was on a separate floor of the home playing video games.
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Pauza-Moore told investigators he kept his handgun in an unenclosed, unsecured area in the gun safe and that the safe was knocked over when he and his roommate entered the bedroom. The boy apparently has knocked over the gun safe in the past.
Investigators found other unlocked guns in the home that were accessible to the child including a loaded 12-gauge shotgun.
There are also reports from police that alcohol was found in the kitchen and living room when they entered the home. They also noted counters and floors were dirty and there were “several holes in the sheetrock of the home”.
Law enforcement says the boy’s mother moved out of the home in June after she and Pauza-Moore decided to separate.
The next court appearance for Pauza-Moore is set for Nov. 7.