Police: Boy may not have shot self
Detectives continue to investigate the Memorial Day shooting death of a 4-year-old boy, hinting Tuesday that someone in the house other than the boy may have fired the weapon.
San Antonio police initially said that JaeLen Corley and a 10-year-old boy, who were visiting a home on the Southeast Side for a family gathering, were playing with the gun when it discharged.
But it could be that the shooting wasn't child's play turned tragically fatal — as happens dozens of times a year in Texas when youngsters get a hold of unlocked and loaded guns.
“Information provided at the scene is always preliminary and subject to change through the course of the investigation,” Sgt. Michelle Ramos, a police spokeswoman, said in an email. “Detectives are still investigating who fired the weapon.”
According to police, a number of people were at the home in the 1400 block of Avant Avenue at the time of the shooting, but some refused to cooperate with investigators and were taken to police headquarters to be interviewed.
The witnesses who did cooperate told police that JaeLen and the 10-year-old were in a back bedroom when they heard a gunshot. The boy's parents, who were outside, rushed inside and found JaeLen with a gunshot wound to the stomach.
JaeLen's father put his son in a car and began driving him to a local hospital until a crash less than a mile from the home blocked their route.
An ambulance met them at the crash site and transported JaeLen to San Antonio Military Medical Center, where he later was pronounced dead.
According to police, the gun belonged to a resident of the home who wasn't there at the time. Police were searching for
the weapon Monday evening. Police declined Tuesday to answer additional questions about the case, including if the gun was found.
They said criminal charges are still possible.
Christian Henricksen, chief of litigation at the Bexar County District Attorney's Office, said Tuesday that prosecutors could file any number of charges, depending on the outcome of the investigation: manslaughter, criminal negligent homicide or making a firearm accessible to a child, though the latter is rarely used.
“Whether or not we file charges is going to be very specific to the facts of the case,” he said. “We're going to look at the circumstances, and if we feel that it rises to the elements of a criminal offense, then we will file charges.”
Preventable deaths
JaeLen's death comes as gun safety advocates in Bexar County try to stop unintentional shootings of and by children.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization, there have been at least 13 such shootings in Texas by children this year, resulting in nine injuries and five deaths.
The year prior, 37 unintentional shootings by children in Texas resulted in 20 deaths and 19 injuries.
Jennifer Northway, director of adult and pediatric injury prevention at University Health System, said firearm deaths and injuries are preventable. They include unintentional discharges, suicides and injuries that occur when someone experiences a cognitive decline.
Northway said that gun owners should store their firearms unloaded and locked, with ammunition kept in a separate place to prevent access by children. Such a practice can dramatically reduce firearm deaths, she said.
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, households that lock both firearms and ammunition had an 85 percent lower risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children.
Danna Halff, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a nonprofit advocacy group, said it's also important for parents to discuss smart gun storage practices with friends and relatives.
“That's a really important one because we ask all these other questions when our children are going to another person's home,” she said. “We ask if there will be adults present in the home. We ask questions about daycare. But we have to be aware about the ability to ask about the presence of unsecured weapons.”
County efforts
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, in coordination with other local leaders, unveiled six gun violence prevention initiatives last year.
One, which was funded by a $40,000 contribution from VIA Metropolitan Transit, included a public awareness campaign displayed on city buses and created by Moms Demand Action promoting responsible gun storage practices.
Local leaders also distributed free trigger and cable locks as part of the campaign. Northway said they have given out more than 6,000 locks so far, including several hundred at the MLK March earlier this year.
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office also has several hundred of locks available at substations throughout the county.
Northway stressed that gun locks are important for all gun owners to have — not just parents of young children.
She said placing a gun lock on a firearm is an extra step that can make someone think twice before using a gun in a suicide or during an argument with a domestic partner.
She said that safe firearm storage is especially important in vehicles, as hundreds of guns are stolen in car thefts each year.
“We also provide cable locks, which are good for people who have a license to carry and need a safe way to store their weapons when they are out and about,” Northway said. “They can't go into a movie theater with a gun. They need to figure out a way to safely store that in their vehicle.”
Halff, of Moms Demand Action, said there are plenty of storage options, including devices with biometric authentication, that are still quick and efficient, ensuring that gun owners can readily access their guns in an emergency.
“If you're securing your gun, you're not just doing it for your safety,” she said. “You're doing it for everyone else, as well.”