An Alabama father died after he shot himself and his daughter when he reached into a diaper bag and accidentally fired the gun lying inside. The incident happened in the parking lot of a Chuck E. Cheese, pizza parlor in Vestavia Hills, on April 13.
Jefferson County coroner’s office said on Tuesday that 22-year-old Timothy Roshun Smith Jr. has died, according to Al.com.
The father, was in the back seat of a vehicle when he reached for the bag sitting on the floor, Vestavia Hills Police Department spokesman Capt. Johnny Evans said.
After the gun went off, the bullet hit the child’s leg before lodging in Smith’s chest, reported AOL.
UPDATE: Adult, child injured in shooting at Chuck E. Cheese’s in AL during diaper changehttps://t.co/PLeKZg3PJL
— WSFA 12 News (@wsfa12news) April 15, 2019
The child’s injuries were not life-threatening and she was moved to a Children’s of Alabama hospital and the father was transported to UAB hospital with serious injuries, according to WBRC.
He was declared dead at the hospital at 2:10 p.m. on Monday.
People present at the scene felt concerned particularly about their children’s well being when they heard the gunshot.
John and Ashley Gerrard, of Bessemer, were at the Chuck E. Cheese’s with their 2-year-old daughter when the shooting happened.
“You don’t expect anyone would bring a gun around where kids would be. It just doesn’t make any sense,” John Gerrard told WBRC.
Loaded gun in diaper bag goes off, injuring father and daughter, police say https://t.co/Os0llxI83q pic.twitter.com/wxAIqjC5Iz
— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) April 15, 2019
Ashley Gerrard said she was very scared. “When you think about someone else’s child being shot, you don’t want yours to be. Anything can happen, anywhere,” she said.
Gerrard family said going out with the family has become like a gamble. “You never can tell anywhere you go. It’s like flipping a coin,” said John Gerrard.
Man, child shot outside Chuck E. Cheese after gun discharges in diaper bag https://t.co/0QV4USigZN pic.twitter.com/OHWd4PRgWX
— Jairo Rodriguez (@RealtorJairo) April 15, 2019
In another accidental shooting case that happened on March 19, a Michigan man throwing a shoe containing a loaded gun at a cockroach by chance shot himself in the foot.
Police said the 50-year-old Detroit man lobbed his shoe at the insect in a bid to kill it, WDIV ClickOnDetroit reported, but he ended up wounded instead.
The victim’s name was not disclosed in the report.
#Detroit police: Man throws shoe with gun in it at cockroach, bullet strikes him in foot https://t.co/0OTSQ7fS7l
— Local 4 WDIV Detroit (@Local4News) March 19, 2019
Detroit police responded to the incident, which took place in the 18700 block of Albion Street on Tuesday, March 19, at the home of the wheelchair-bound man.
Citing police sources, WDIV reported that when the man threw the shoe at the bug, a loaded revolver that had been stashed inside fell out and discharged.
A bullet then hit the man in the foot.
No further details were provided on the man’s condition, nor on the fate of the cockroach.
Accidental Shootings
Far fewer Americans fall victim to firearm accidents than some two decades ago, even though people own more guns, according to new data.
Accidental firearm discharges killed 486 people in 2017, down more than 50 percent since 1997, according to mortality data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Meanwhile, gun sales increased more than 80 percent between 1999 and 2017, according to The DataFace, a San Francisco data analysis company, which based its estimates on FBI background check data.
CNN Wire and Epoch Times reporter Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
