W. Mifflin mom ordered to stand trial

Faces endangerment charges in son’s death

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A West Mifflin mother who was charged with child endangerment after her 10-year-old son shot and killed his 6-year-old brother with her gun was ordered Thursday to stand trial.

Kayleigh Potter, 29, faces four counts of endangering the welfare of children, illegally possessing marijuana and lying on the paperwork when she purchased the gun that killed Julian Hoffman. The case now proceeds to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

Ms. Potter’s sons were home alone on Aug. 9 when the older boy shot Julian inside the family’s trailer on Dover Lane.

Two of Ms. Potter’s ex-boyfriends testified during a preliminary hearing in West Mifflin that Ms. Potter often put the boys to bed and then left them alone while she went out for the night.

A neighbor testified that she often saw the brothers hanging around outside for hours with no supervision.

The prosecution appeared to be trying to establish that Ms. Potter was habitually negligent before she left the boys alone on Aug. 9.

“I questioned it a lot,” ex-boyfriend Kevin Savage said of leaving the boys alone at night. “But eventually it was just a routine thing that happened.”

A West Mifflin detective who was the first to arrive at the scene of the shooting testified that the boys were alone when he arrived and that Ms. Potter’s boyfriend