A devastating incident has led to charges against an Indiana mother after her two-year-old son grabbed a gun from her purse and a tragedy occurred in front of his eight-year-old sister.
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On June 19, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) responded to a call of a person shot in a CVS store parking lot near E. 46th Street and Keystone Avenue just before 3 p.m. When police arrived, according to local news station WTHR 13, Keiara Bickett of Indianapolis advised that her son, Javarius Bickett, 2, had shot himself in the head with her 9mm Glock Model 26 Gen 5 handgun.
Court documents say Bickett told police during an interview she was driving with her two children; the boy in his car seat in the back and her daughter in the front. According to authorities, Bickett explained how the trio stopped at a gas station then traveled to CVS to pick up a prescription. The mother of two said when she was trying to park, she was looking for her cellphone when she heard a gunshot.
After she ducked down from the loud bang, she looked over and saw her son falling to the passenger side floorboard, court documents said. She then stopped the car, opened the front passenger door, picked Javarius up and called 911. The toddler was taken to Riley Hospital where he died from his injuries.
WTHR 13 reports Bickett does admit to carrying a firearm in her purse while she is out, but keeps her purse closed. However, she doesn’t think her purse was zipped that day and it was placed on the passenger seat between the center console and her other child as opposed to on the driver’s floorboard.
Now, the 28-year-old mother has been charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death. She has also been court-ordered to stay away from her now nine-year-old daughter, who witnessed the horrifying accident, with a no-contact order. Per reports, the daughter’s grandmother will care for her at least until Bickett’s next court hearing on Sept. 22. Bickett must also find another place to stay, at least for now, since she lives at the same home as her mother.
“It was an absolute accident,” Bickett’s mother Melissa Etheridge said. “She may have had negligence for not having the gun in a safe place, but she would never harm any of her children. She loves her kids to death. It’s tearing me up. It’s tearing her daughter up.”
If convicted for the Level 1 felony, Bickett faces between 20-to-40-years in prison.
“I know she should have punishment for what happened, but that’s just too much,” Etheridge said. “Everybody’s painting a picture of her that she’s an evil person. She is a great mother. She takes care of her children.” Melissa said her daughter wouldn’t do anything that would “ever harm her children. She takes very good care of them. They have everything they want, everything they need.”
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