A 5-year-old boy fatally shot himself with a gun while his babysitter was napping.
The shooting occurred last Monday and the babysitter was arrested. The handgun, a semi-automatic .40 calibre pistol, belonged to the babysitter.
19-year-old Melissa Ann Ringhardt, was charged with abandoning or endangering a child, the county sheriff’s office said in a statement.
On Monday, Ringhardt was left babysitting 5-year-old John Read and another young child belonging to Kayla and Joe Read.
According to a news release from Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Ringhardt told investigators that she had the gun because she was scared of being at home alone.
She left the weapon on a coffee table in the living room while she went for a nap. When she awoke she discovered John Read in the living room with a fatal gunshot wound. The other child was not harmed.
Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson
“People have the right to bear arms, and with that comes great responsibility,” Orange County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson told KFDM-TV of Beaumont.
“If someone, somehow, puts a firearm in a place where a child is able to get that weapon, you’ve committed an offense.”
“Sometimes, it takes something like this — as tragic as it is — for people to reflect on those things, and these are the opportunities you take … to say, ‘Look, what could we have done?'” he said.
Ringhardt’s bond was set by Orange County Justice of the Peace Judge David Peck at $250,000.
Photo of Melissa: Orange County Sheriff’s Office
