Police Chief Edrick Hall said a potentially tragic situation was averted last week when Sgt. Irish Johnson confiscated a loaded handgun from a 2-year-old boy he inadvertently encountered in a parking lot at a U.S. 82 business.
The child’s mother, Brittany Williams 28, 703 Kinlock Road, was arrested and charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency or neglect of a minor, improper parking, no driver’s license and public profanity. She later bonded out. Johnson said he was coming out of the Fred’s store when he noticed the white Chevrolet Malibu, improperly parked in the front of the store with the motor running. He then noticed a young girl in the back seat and decided to stay by the car until the driver came out so he could express the danger of the situation.
While conversing with the four-year-old girl through the unopened window he saw a two-year-old boy crawl from under the steering wheel holding a 9 mm pistol to his head. Johnson said he yelled, “No,” and the boy dropped the weapon on the front seat. He then rushed to open the front door, which was not locked, and attempted to pull the toddler away from the gun, although the child attempted to reach for it again.
Johnson said the gun was fully loaded with a bullet in the chamber. He emphasized that the thought of what could have happened is very disturbing. “All he had to do was just touch the trigger,” he said. The weapon could have potentially discharged striking either of the children, Johnson or anyone else in the vicinity.
People began to gather around, said Johnson, so he asked someone to go into the store to find the driver. He said that Williams emerged from the store and immediately began asking the boy what he had done and started cussing the child. He then chided the mother for the way she addressed the boy and rebuked her for the language used towards the youth.
Johnson said he called for backup. And according to him, Williams appeared to focus more on the thought that the child was getting her into trouble than the possible tragedy. He said Williams tried to defend her actions by stating she had only gone into the store to return an item. Johnson relayed to the woman that it wasn’t the child’s fault and acknowledged that it doesn’t take but a second for mishap to take place.
He said the child must have watched his mother or someone put the weapon underneath the seat multiple times in order to know where to find it.
Williams reportedly appeared in court on Tuesday and pled not guilty to the child neglect charges. She allegedly said the weapon was not hers and although she knew the owner she declined to reveal it to officials. The four-year-old girl in the car was Williams’ niece. Neither child was injured.
