DETROIT (WWJ) — The parents of a 5-year-old Detroit boy who accidentally shot himself to death after finding an unsecured handgun inside his home last month have been bound over for trial.
Sturlin Minion, Sr., 33, and Halisa Brown, 25 are facing multiple charges, including involuntary manslaughter and child abuse. The charges stem from their son’s death on Dec. 9, an accidental shooting that Detroit Police Chief James White called “absolutely ridiculous, irresponsible, stupid and unnecessary.”
White said at the time Sturlin Minion, Jr., and four other children, ages 4-8, were allegedly left unattended in the home that afternoon. As they were playing, the 5-year-old found a gun on a dresser and started to play with it.
As he was apparently jumping on the bed, he accidentally turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the face, White said at the time.
“I can only imagine how they feel to lose a 5-year-old child,” Judge Kenneth King said Tuesday during the parents’ probable cause hearing.
“But the law does punish this kind of conduct, a parent’s gross negligence, leaving a loaded weapon in a room full of kids,” he said.
King says the prosecution has met their burden to bind both defendants over for trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, three counts of second-degree child abuse and four counts of felony firearm. Their next court date is scheduled for Jan. 30.