Black Father Arrested After 2-Year-Old Son Kills Himself With His Gun

On Sunday (August 4), a toddler fatally shot himself in the torso with a gun. The tragic incident led his father, Devonte Chambers, to be arrested and booked for negligent homicide that same day according to Baton Rouge Police Department.

The child, who was just two years old and named after his father, was immediately transported to a local hospital but was later pronounced dead from his injuries. Chambers said he took his child to the bedroom they shared for a nap.

He then told authorities that he put on a movie and fell asleep. That’s when his son had taken a pistol — whose magazine was most likely protruding from under the pillow according to police documents — and shot himself. The incident occurred around 2 p.m.

Chambers was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. “The dad had his gun out and his two-year-old son was playing with his gun and accidentally shot himself,” said Lieutenant L’Jean McNeely of the Baton Rouge Police Department in a statement.

Richard Brown, the great-grandfather of the late child, told WVLA that he heard a gunshot Sunday afternoon in the back bedroom of his home while he was cooking in the kitchen. “I feel very terrible about this,” Brown said. “Oh my God my baby had been shot, Lord have mercy.”

Brown also shared that he doesn’t believe his grandson should be charged for the 2-year-old’s death. In the state of Louisiana, there is no legal requirement for guns in a home to be secured.

Back in March, an eerily similar incident occurred in Baton Rouge when a four-year-old who was playing with a gun was killed. His mother, 22-year-old Arieana Scott, was charged in relation to his death.