Prosecutors say dad didn’t secure his gun

A Houston father charged in connection with the death of his toddler may have been too drunk to remember to secure his loaded handgun before the 3-year-old fatally shot himself with the weapon, according to prosecutors.

The Harris County District Attorney’s office last week charged Anthony Deshon Love, 31, with making a firearm accessible to a child after the the boy’s death around noon Nov. 1, apparently from a bullet fired from Love’s .22 caliber handgun.

Prosecutors say Love may have left the gun in the living room next to a futon where he fell asleep after drinking on Halloween night, according to court documents. His 3-year-old son was airlifted from the northwest Harris County home in the 6400 block of Skyview Drive to the hospital, where he later died.

The Harris County Sheriff ’s Office on Nov. 13 issued an arrest warrant for Love. He was arrested the next day and released on a $100 bond, said a spokesman for the sheriff ’s office.

In an interview following the shooting, Love told detectives the boy’s mother found the child lying on the kitchen floor bleeding, with the handgun at his side. She ran outside to the backyard, where Love was, to inform him, he told investigators.

The toddler’s mother picked up her son, laid him by the front door and tried to wake him by putting water on him. Love’s sister, who also lived at the house, dialed 911, records show. The boy “opened his eyes a little” while the family waited for paramedics to arrive, according to Love’s statement to investigators.

Love gave conflicting statements to investigators regarding where the gun was located after Halloween night, court records also show.

The father, who does not have a concealed handgun license, said he handled the gun on Halloween

night, as he drank with his wife and his sister in their living room. According to Love, he made sure the gun was “ready” because “it gets dangerous on Halloween” and he wanted to protect his family, prosecutors said.

He told detectives that he usually kept the unloaded weapon secured in a cabinet above the stove with the safety on, but then said there may have been one round in the chamber. He also said he was sure he put the gun away inside the cabinet, but that he hadn’t checked to see whether it was there the morning when he woke up, court records show.

In a second interview, Love told investigators he could not remember where he left the .22 caliber Walther his son used to shoot himself, court records showed

In the same session with authorities, Love admitted that on Halloween around 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. that he had begun drinking whiskey and brandy mixed with Dr. Pepper. He became intoxicated and told investigators “it was possible that he left the gun by the futon last night and fell asleep.”

Love was charged with making a firearm accessible to a child, a misdemeanor. If convicted, Love may serve up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $4,000.