Mother charged with reckless homicide in shooting death
A mother in Memphis has been charged with reckless homicide following the shooting death this week of her 14-year-old daughter.
Tuwana Bynote is accused of failing to control a gun in her home that was used in what people have described as an unintentional shooting as her children were handling the weapon.
An arrest affidavit lays out the following sequence of events: Police responded on Tuesday to a shooting in the 4200 block of Arrow in the Westwood neighborhood. The girl was found shot and was pronounced dead by the Memphis Fire Department.
Police Lt. Karen Rudolph said the slain girl was 14.
There were only two other people in the home: Bynote and her son, the affidavit says. The son is described in the document as a juvenile, but his age is not listed. Rudolph said he is 15.
The affidavit says Bynote waived her right to remain silent and spoke with investigators. “Bynote advised the male juvenile is her son and that she knew he had a gun and has had it for months. Bynote has taken the gun from her son several times but he takes it back afterwards. Bynote never removed the gun from the residence even though she stated she knew she needed to.”
The teen boy likewise spoke with investigators and said he unintentionally shot his sister while handing her the gun, the affidavit says. “(He) states he has had the gun for months and that he bought it on the streets. (He) stated Tuwana Bynote has taken the gun from him several times but she always hides it in the same spot so he takes it back.”
Bynote is scheduled for a video arraignment on Thursday and has not yet entered a plea. No attorney is yet listed in court records. Though the police affidavit lists her age as 46, other records in the court system list her age at 49.
Rudolph, the police spokeswoman, said the prosecutor’s office will have to decide whether to pursue charges against the teen boy in Juvenile Court or as an adult.
Researchers at Lebonheur Children’s Hospital have launched an anti-gun violence initiative in recent years after seeing a rash of shootings that injured or killed young people. They have since concluded that children in Memphis and across Tennessee are far more likely than elsewhere in the nation to die of gun violence.
Among the contributing factors are unintentional shootings related to failure to safely store firearms.
Investigative reporter Daniel Connolly welcomes tips and comments from the public. Reach him at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.