Authorities in central Florida have arrested the father of a two-year-old toddler who accidentally shot his mother while she was on a Zoom conference call. This is after the man failed to hide the gun out of his son’s reach.
Manslaughter for Veondre Avery
The 22-year-old Veondre Avery has been charged with manslaughter and failure to store a firearm by Florida police securely. Both the police and a prosecutor stated that Avery was taken into custody on Tuesday, NDTV reported.
The mother – 21-year-old Shamaya Lynn – was at their home when she was accidentally shot in the head on August 11, in the middle of a Zoom meeting.
911 call
One of Lynn’s colleagues called the emergency services as soon as it happened. The co-worker said that “one of the girls passed out, adding she (Lynn) was bleeding.” The caller also disclosed that Lynn’s camera is on, and her baby can be heard crying in the background.
It was learned that Avery, who had been away when the incident happened, had also called emergency services to ask them to hurry by the time he got home. When police officers arrived on the scene, they saw Avery attempting to revive Lynn in their Altamonte Springs apartment, a city north of Orlando. Despite his efforts, she was declared dead shortly after that by paramedics.
Kept in a ‘Paw Patrol’ bag
Upon investigation, it was found out that Avery stored the weapon in a backpack with a “Paw Patrol” them on it. It was also found the gun was kept loaded without a safety pin on.
Meanwhile, District Attorney Dan Faggard stated that a trial date is yet to be set.
In the United States, accidental shootings by children are not unheard of. In late September, a similar incident happened when a two-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the state of Texas after finding a loaded gun from a backpack of a relative.
The firearms control advocacy group, Everytown For Gun Safety, stated that hundreds of children in the U.S. annually gain access to unsecured loaded guns inside closets, backpacks, purses, nightstand drawers, or just being left out. Further, the organization also stated that unintentional shootings by minors had caused 879 deaths since 2015. In 2021 alone, they’ve recorded 114 of these incidents.
