TACOMA, Wash. — Manslaughter charges have been filed in the death of a 3-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself with a gun he found under a car seat while his mother and the gun owner had stopped at a Tacoma service station.
Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist says 23-year-old Eric Vita and 22-year-old Jahnisha McIntosh were negligent in allowing her son to reach the gun.
The prosecutor says Vita placed his 9mm pistol under the passenger seat March 14 when he stepped out to pump gas. The prosecutor says McIntosh moved it under the driver's seat and went inside the convenience store to buy food. The two are due in court Wednesday.
The boy, Julio Segura-McIntosh, had unbuckled himself from a booster seat. He found the gun and shot himself in the head.
