A 3-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself with his babysitter’s gun after the man left the gun on a center island to go to the bathroom.
Per CBS News, the fatal October 2024 incident occurred at an apartment in northeast Minneapolis.
The babysitter, identified as Elliot Staples III, has since been sentenced to six months in jail. Staples was handed the punishment after he pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree manslaughter in September 2025.
Staples is scheduled to start serving his jail sentence on March 3. After completing his sentence, Staples will be on supervised probation for five years. He will return to prison for four years if he violates the terms of his probation. Staples was additionally fined $7,500 in restitution.
The deceased minor’s mother, Charlotte Williams, said that she was at work when the fatal incident occurred. Williams said that Staples was at her apartment and babysitting her 3-year-old son, Jajuan Robinson, at the time.
Staples left his gun in the kitchen and on a center island before making his way to the bathroom, the criminal complaint stated. Staples later heard a gunshot while he was inside the bathroom, CBS News reported. After exiting the bathroom, he found Robinson with a head wound.
The complaint stated that Staples informed authorities that he mostly leaves the gun on top of the refrigerator, but he failed to do it on that occasion because “he was rushed.”
Robinson succumbed to his injuries after he was taken to the hospital. In the aftermath of the fatal incident, Williams told KSTP that her “baby’s last words was mommy.”
“For him to get a hold of a gun, how?” she also said. “He thought it was a toy; my baby accidentally shot himself in the head.”
Williams also said that she did not know how the weapon “got to my house, I don’t allow.” “Me being the mother of three children — I don’t allow weapons in my house,” she added.
Be SMART for Kids has this to say about gun safety and keeping guns away from children: “Don’t make the mistake of assuming that ‘hiding’ a gun or placing it somewhere that seems out-of-reach will keep a kid from getting their hands on it. And keep in mind that the gold standard for secure gun storage is to keep all guns unloaded, locked up, and separate from ammunition.”
