SAVANNAH, GA (August 31, 2011): Charges have been filed against the man who admitted leaving a pistol within reach of a 2-year-old boy who remains in critical condition at a Savannah hospital.
Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Violent Crimes investigators charged Ron Allen with second degree cruelty to a child, a felony, and reckless conduct, a misdemeanor, after Tuesday night’s accidental shooting of Jayden Simmons. Allen turned himself in to investigators at headquarters Wednesday evening without incident and was transported to the Chatham County Detention Center
Melinda Simmons of the West Broad Court apartments at MLK Boulevard and Henry Street, flagged down a police officer on the way to Memorial University Medical Center about 9:14 p.m. to report she was taking her son to the hospital with the gunshot wound.
Detectives and Forensics investigators found evidence at the apartment supporting his mother’s explanation that the child found a gun on the floor of the bathroom and was playing with it when it fired. The child received a head wound. The mother said Allen, her boyfriend, had left the loaded pistol in the bathroom before the child went in to wash his hands.
SCMPD detectives conferred with the Chatham County District Attorney’s Office before placing the charges. Still, the investigation into the shooting is continuing.
CRN 110830196
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