Insets, from left: Kiyomi Parker (GoFundMe) and Ca’Marion Pawnell (St. Louis Justice Center). Background: Police investigate after a 10-year-old boy shot a baby in St. Louis, Mo. (KSDK).
A Missouri grand jury has declined to indict a 19-year-old father on a murder charge after authorities alleged he left a loaded gun beneath a mattress — a weapon later used by a 10-year-old boy to fatally shoot an infant. The father, however, still faces multiple child endangerment charges tied to the deadly St. Louis shooting.
Jurors returned a “no true bill” on the second-degree murder count against Ca’Marion Pawnell in the death of 7-month-old Kiyomi Parker. Pawnell remains charged with first-degree child endangerment resulting in death, along with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child by creating a substantial risk.
Investigators say a 10-year-old Missouri boy discovered the gun under the mattress and shot Kiyomi in the head, killing her. The case led to murder charges against both the child and the infant’s father. The boy, who has since turned 11, is facing a first-degree murder charge in juvenile court and was reportedly ordered to undergo treatment at a state facility while the case proceeds.
Officers with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department were called shortly after 4 p.m. on June 26 to a residence in the 8400 block of N. Broadway following reports of a shooting. When police arrived, they found Kiyomi with a gunshot wound.
Rather than wait for an ambulance, officers placed the wounded baby in a police cruiser and rushed her to a hospital. Doctors later pronounced her dead.
A probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime states that the boy knew Pawnell kept a gun under a bedroom mattress and had previously taken it out to play with it. On the day of the shooting, authorities allege, the boy retrieved the firearm and shot Kiyomi in the head.
During an interview with detectives, Pawnell acknowledged that the gun belonged to him and that he had stored it under the bed, according to the affidavit.
Police said a 7-year-old also was inside the home at the time of the shooting.
Cops did not name the shooter since he was charged as a juvenile. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that under Missouri law, only juveniles over the age of 12 can stand trial as adults.
In a GoFundMe, Kiyomi’s mother, Janyla Parker, said she lost her daughter to a “senseless act of gun violence.”
“No parent should ever have to experience this kind of heartbreak,” she wrote.
Pawnell remains at the St. Louis Justice Center without bond. His next court date is set for Aug. 3.
The post Dad who left loaded gun under mattress leading to 10-year-old boy fatally shooting baby won’t face murder charge, but he’s not out of the woods yet: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.
