An accidental shooting death involving a toddler leads to two family members of the victim arrested
Officers have determined a child accidentally shot and killed a man at a home near the Ironwood Golf Course
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Officers arrested two family members of a man from Gainesville killed in a shooting last month near the Ironwood Golf Course. Officers say the man’s mother and brother covered up the fact a toddler in his home accidentally shot him.
Officers charged Lawanda Wade, 50, and Quante Whitaker, 29, with witness tampering and child abuse in connection to the shooting of Bernard Carter III on March 24. He died in the hospital several days later. Whitaker is also charged with evidence tampering and perjury.
It was initially reported on March 24, that Carter entered his family’s home at Lewis Place Apartments on Northeast 15th Street and announced he’d been shot. Detectives asked the public for help finding the killer as family members claimed not to know how Carter was shot.
Detectives later received an anonymous tip and interviewed an eyewitness. They learned that a toddler living in the home had access to an unsecured handgun. The child grabbed the gun and it went off, striking Carter.
Officers say Wade and Whitaker, Carter’s mother and brother respectively, knew what happened and covered it up. They actively misled detectives for weeks about the death. The coverup prevented the toddler and two other children in the home from getting crisis-related services.
According to the arrest report, the suspects coached the children into lying about the shooting to claim it happened outside of the house. Eventually, the children revealed the truth.
The eyewitness told detectives that Whitaker immediately took the gun and hid it above the refrigerator before disposing of it. The gun has not been recovered. He then told the witness to wash the toddler, to remove the gunshot residue, detectives say.
Wade was arrested on Wednesday and Whitaker is not currently in custody.
“Who knows that might really affect the kid when he gets older,” said Bob Centofanti, a neighbor. “It was preventable you know. You just had to put the gun where he couldn’t reach it or put a trigger lock on it. I mean they aren’t that expensive. Because guns are not something to mess with. They’re kind of bad.”
RELATED: Detectives ask for help solving deadly shooting reported near Ironwood Golf Course
Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
Copyright 2024 WCJB. All rights reserved.
