A 13-year-old boy admitted that his younger brother was fatally shot by the grandmother watching over them both but later, he accused his 5-year-old sister.
The boy eventually confessed to accidentally shooting his sibling, 9-year-old Ashton Lipsomb in the head on October 7. Allegedly, they were playing with their father’s legally-owned guns in the family’s Chicago home.
The children’s father, Adrien Lipscomb, 38, was set free on a personal recognizance bond after being charged with felony child endangerment in the incident.
“This is a profoundly tragic and heartbreaking case,” said Judge Mary C. Marubio during a bail hearing via YouTube.
“There is profound carelessness to this offense, but certainly no acute criminality that Mr. Lipscomb suffers from.”
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According to his attorney, Andrew Gable, Lipscomb was cooperative in the investigation, has no criminal background and turned himself in.
Prosecutors said Lipscomb had left the home to take his wife to the hospital, allegedly leaving two handguns unlocked while the boys were placed in the care of their grandmother.
Officers discovered the victim in a pool of blood in the upstairs unit and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
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The grandmother had been downstairs and did not witness the shooting. But when the father returned to find investigators on the scene, he overheard the 13-year-old blaming her for the accident, according to prosecutors.
Officers discovered two handguns near the children, along with an unloaded rifle under the bed. The boys’ little sister told investigators the eldest boy had retrieved both handguns and that her siblings were playing with them when one accidentally went off said Assistant State’s Attorney Jocelyn Schieve.
Lipscomb initially faced two counts of child endangerment but prosecutors dropped the second charge in court.