A Detroit man was charged on Thursday with murder in connection with the death of his nine-year-old son, who fatally shot himself with a loaded shotgun earlier this week.
Christopher Head, 45, was set to be arraigned Thursday in the death of his son Daylen, who authorities say was found around 12.30pm Monday in a home on Detroit’s west side with a fatal gunshot wound to his head.
“It is alleged that the father possessed a loaded shotgun that was not secured and accessible to the child,” said the Wayne County prosecutor’s office, in a statement.
The case remains under investigation and no further details were immediately released by the prosecutor’s office, which announced the charges Thursday morning.
Head was charged with second-degree homicide, involuntary manslaughter, second degree child abuse, firearm possession by a felon, felony firearm and a count of “short-barreled shotgun” felony firearms.
Head was expected to be arraigned Thursday morning.
To help offset funeral costs, Daylen’s elementary school launched a GoFundMe page to cover the family’s funeral expenses. As of Thursday, the fundraiser had received over $1,850.
“Daylen Head … was a promising young man whose life has been abruptly cut short,” the GoFundMe page says, adding: “Daylen was an energetic and loving son, brother and friend. He will be remembered fondly by all who knew him.
The case follows a similar incident in Detroit earlier this summer, when an 11-year-old-boy shot and killed a three-year-old boy, after allegedly finding a gun in his father’s house. The father was arraigned on several criminal charges, but the most severe charges – involuntary manslaughter and child abuse – were dismissed during a preliminary examination.
The older boy faces an involuntary manslaughter charge – a circumstance that remains exceedingly rare, in cases of juveniles that young – and is being tried as a juvenile.
Some states hold parents accountable through what are known as Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws, which require guns to be stored in a place children cannot access. But Michigan has no such law.
