Mother, 37, ‘who shot dead her five-year-old daughter’ tried to blame her two-year-old son

Robin Howington (pictured in mugshot) was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday 

A Tennessee mother is suspected of fatally shooting her five-year-old daughter in the chest before giving investigators conflicting stories about the incident – including blaming her two-year-old toddler son for the death. 

Robin Howington, 37, has been indicted by a grand jury of first-degree murder, child neglect, false reporting, tampering with evidence and attempted tampering with evidence from the September 14, 2019 death of her daughter, Destiny Oliver.

She was arrested by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday and held on a $500,000 bond. 

Last year, authorities dispatched to Howington’s Fountain City neighborhood home to find the young girl had been shot, according to Knoxville News Sentinel.  

Destiny was taken to University of Tennessee Medical Center where she was pronounced dead. 

Deputies with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office dispatched to Howington’s Knoxville, Tennessee, home to find five-year-old  Destiny Oliver (pictured) with a gunshot wound

Destiny (left), pictured with Howington (center),  succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at a local hospital 

When questioned by investigators, Howington would try to pass blame on four other individuals. 

First, she told investigators that a unidentified man broke into their home and shot Destiny once in the chest before fleeing in a black Chrysler 300. 

Howington later claimed the girl’s father, Antoine Oliver, was the culprit who shot their daughter before escaping in a black Chrysler 300. 

She said the violent incident happened after a tense argument between them, 

Around this time, authorities discovered a handgun hidden in a bush outside Howington’s home. 

Howington (right) first told investigators that Destiny (left) was killed by an unidentified man, but later said it was the girl’s father, Antoine Oliver 

Howington  claimed her boyfriend Daniel Hensley, who is not Destiny’s father, had hidden the handgun in a bush outside her home 

Pictured: Robin Howington in Knox County General Sessions Court on Thursday, October 17, 2019

She then alleged her boyfriend Daniel Hensley, who is not Destiny’s father, of stashing the handgun.

But surveillance footage from a neighbor actually showed Howington hiding the firearm among the shrubbery. 

Howington (pictured in mugshot) claimed her two-year-old son shot dead her daughter, according to court documents 

The mother allegedly admitted to hiding the weapon on the bushes, but she claims it was out of maternal instinct.  

Howington, in her most shocking claim, then told investigators that she wiped down the gun and stashed it after her two-year-old son discovered the weapon in a closet. 

The two-year-old, she said, shot dead her daughter.  

Howington’s boyfriend later told investigators that he witnessed her brandish a gun at Destiny’s father the day of the shooting.

The father reportedly took the gun away from Howington.

Howington ‘did unlawfully kill [Destiny Oliver] during the perpetration of aggravated child neglect,’ the indictment reads, People reports. 

The tampering charges stem from Howington reportedly trying to destroy her cell phone and moved furniture around the night of Destiny’s death.

Howington ‘did unlawfully kill [Destiny Oliver] (pictured) during the perpetration of aggravated child neglect,’ according to indictment documents 

While at the hospital after Destiny’s shooting, Howington allegedly tried to destroy her cell phone to hid illegal marijuana sales she had participated in

It’ s unclear what events led up to the shooting and, subsequently, the death of Destiny  Oliver (pictured) on September 14, 2019

She told authorities she did not want investigators learn of illegal marijuana sales she had conducted.  

WATE reports that Howington tried to disable the cell phone by running it under water at the hospital. 

A witness claimed that Howington tried to pass off the cell phone to her and even offered her money to take it.  

Howington has not yet entered a plea to the charges 

Source: Daily Mail