A man from Montana is facing a charge of negligent homicide after his 3-year-old son accidentally shot himself in the face with a loaded handgun that the man had left on the living room couch while he went outside to smoke.
The Lincoln County Sheriff, Darren Short, reported that deputies responded to a call at the man’s home shortly after 10 a.m. on Tuesday. They found the man, identified as 24-year-old Timothy Moore, sitting in the road outside the house.
A deputy said Moore appeared to be in an “altered mental state” and asked the deputy “to shoot him” when asked if he was involved in the incident.
According to Sheriff Short, Moore admitted that he had left the loaded gun unattended on the couch when he went outside. Upon hearing a loud noise from inside, he rushed back in to discover his young son with a gunshot wound to the head, holding the weapon. The child was rushed to Cabinet Peaks Medical Center but sadly succumbed to his injuries.
Deputies found a .22 caliber handgun and two magazines for the weapon in Moore’s pants pocket. The deputies also saw “track” marks on his arm that appeared consistent with intravenous drug use and found paraphernalia consistent with drug use in the house.
Moore is being held in the Lincoln County Detention Center on a $500,000 bond and has a preliminary hearing set for June 11.
