Stolen AR-15 leads to Georgia boy’s killing, 10 year sentence

Prosecutors said James Lee Evans Jr. knew how an AR-15 ended up in an apartment he shared with a woman and her two small children. And he also knew how a 4-year-old was shot and killed by the rifle.

But Evans initially told investigators a different story. He claimed little Mason Piercy had been the victim of a gang-related, drive-by shooting.

After a massive search to find the shooter, Evans confessed he knew where the weapon was: he had hidden it after the boy was shot.

Earlier this month, a Spalding County judge sentenced Evans to serve 10 years in prison, according to District Attorney Marie Broder with the Griffin Judicial Circuit.

Mason was one of dozens of children killed or injured in unintentional shootings every year, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization dedicated to preventing gun violence. From 2015 through 2023, 194 unintentional shootings involving children happened in Georgia, ranking the state 10th in the nation.

“Unintentional shootings by children are not accidents, because they’re entirely preventable through secure gun storage,” Dr. Sofia Chaudhary, an Atlanta pediatrician, said in a statement. “When a gun is left accessible to a child, it can be a matter of life and death. Keeping our kids safe means stopping gun violence before it happens in the first place.”

Earlier this month, a 3-year-old was shot to death and another child was injured when bullets flew into their Athens home while they watched television, according to police. Three teenagers are accused in the shooting.

In the Spalding case, Evans had stolen the rifle that was at the end of the bed, near where Mason and his 2-year-old brother played, according to prosecutors. As Evans called the boy to get on the bed, Mason was shot in the hand and abdomen Feb. 3, 2022. He died from his injuries days later.

Moments later, Evans left the Griffin apartment with the rifle and hid it under a mattress and box spring left on a path behind the complex, according to investigators. It was still loaded.

Evans, identified by prosecutors as a known gang member, led authorities on a hunt for a shooter before he confessed. When investigators found the gun, they determined it had been stolen in September 2021.

“Ballistics testing confirmed that not only was it the weapon that killed Mason, but it had been used in multiple gangrelated, drive-by shootings in the Griffin area in the months prior to Mason’s death,” Broder’s office said in a statement.