DETROIT _ A Detroit grandmother has been charged in the death of a 13-year-old boy fatally shot by one of her grandsons who played with a gun the woman left underneath her dresser Monday.
Lise Cox, 58, has been charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree child abuse and felony firearm in connection with 13-year-old Emarjae Watkins' death.
According to investigators, Cox went to work Monday around 8:45 a.m., leaving her two grandsons _ one 13 and the other 15 _ in her home. Cox kept a handgun on the floor underneath the dresser in her bedroom and she was aware that both of her grandsons knew the location of the weapon and the ammunition, the news release said.
Detroit Police Media Relations Director Michael Woody said Monday that Cox's two grandsons had been spending the day at the home after their school canceled classes Monday because of heavy snowfall overnight.
While Cox was at work, Watkins and another boy went to her home around 1 p.m. to play video games, according to police.
Woody said Cox told investigators that her bedroom door had been locked and the teens broke into the room and obtained the grandmother's gun, he said.
"They were going to use it to scare the 13-year-old," Woody said, adding that the weapon discharged.
According to the prosecutor's office, Emarjae was shot in the back. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Cox's 13-year-old grandson was charged as a juvenile with manslaughter _ death by weapon aimed with intent but without malice; felony firearm; and careless discharge causing injury or death. A preliminary hearing was held and bond was set for the 13-year-old by Referee Leslie Graves at $7,500. A pretrial hearing will be held before Judge Frank Szymanski on Dec. 16.
It was the second incident this year of a child finding a gun belonging to a grandparent that ended fatally.
In May, Frederick Davis, 65, and Patricia McNeal, 65, were charged in connection with the May 11 shooting death of their granddaughter, 5-year-old Mariah Davis.
The grandparents were baby-sitting Mariah and her brother, along with a neighbor's child, at their home when Mariah went into her grandparents' bedroom around midnight and retrieved a handgun from under a pillow and shot herself. Davis was convicted of second-degree child abuse and firearm charges in the case but has yet to be sentenced. Neal has a hearing next week.
