Detroit man charged with unsafe gun storage after 3-year-old son shot

A Detroit man has been charged after his 3-year-old son allegedly shot himself with an unsecured gun.

Richard Williams, 29, was charged with unsafe storage of a weapon that caused injury, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office said Sunday.

“Another day. “Another child was injured by a loaded, unsecured gun,” prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement. “If we don’t pay attention to this issue universally and if we don’t take this issue seriously, something else will happen tomorrow. These are our children; if we can’t unite for them, who will we unite for?”

The boy was in his father’s care at a home in the 4000 block of Grand Street around 12:44 a.m. Wednesday when he found his father’s gun and fired it, hitting himself in the stomach, authorities said.

Officials said the child was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Williams appeared in court on Friday at 36^This District Court. His bond is $50,000 cash or surety, and a bond resetting hearing will be held Monday. His probable hearing is scheduled for Friday before Judge Ronald Giles, with a preliminary examination scheduled for Nov. 14.

Wednesday’s incident comes weeks after a 5-year-old girl was killed. shot on the west side of the city.

A 3-year-old son had previously shot himself with an unsafe gun in his Detroit home. His mother was charged with violating the state’s safe firearms storage law, a five-year felony.

In August, a 7-year-old boy was hospitalized after being hit in the head with a bullet fired into his home in the area of Fairmount Drive and Shakespeare Avenue on the city’s east side.