How did Roshad Richardson a four year old Tampa, Florida boy come to accidentally shoot himself in the chest at the family home?
Roshad Richardson, a 4 year old Hillsborough County, Florida boy has undergone emergency surgery after ‘accidentally’ shooting himself in the chest after coming across a gun at the family home.
Rushed to St Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, following Tuesday morning’s ‘incident’ the toddler is now in stable condition after incurring a gunshot wound.
Told the boy’s mother, Delicia Forte, 24, via the Tampa Bay Times: ‘The family is good. I have a strong backbone, and I’m just grateful my son is doing great,’
‘”He’s talking, he’s alive, he’s stable, he’s everything.’
Authorities said at the time of the shooting, the toddler was in the care of Forte’s boyfriend, 26-year-old Akia Thomas, as the mother took her one-year-old daughter to daycare and 6-year-old daughter to school.
Police say they believe the child found the weapon, a Taurus .380 caliber handgun, underneath a dresser at the Key Vista Apartments home and accidentally pulled the trigger hitting himself in the chest.
Following the shooting, cops arrested Thomas on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, unsafe storage of a firearm and possession of cocaine.
Told Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Col. Donna Lusczynski in a news conference: ‘He shouldn’t have (a gun) around him or be around them’.
According to WFLA, Thomas has a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for cocaine and marijuana possession, with the man having a total of 24 prior felony charges and five felony convictions.
In 2011, Akia Thomas spent seven months in state prison for possessing more than 20 grams of marijuana according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records.
Reiterated Melvin Hicks, a neighbor in the neighborhood known to be rampant with crime: ‘Our law enforcement, they do their job. But, they can’t be everywhere at one time. So, if you do have a gun, I pray to God that you lock it up’.
Of note the mother declined to answer questions as to whether she was aware her boyfriend was in possession of the firearm and how it came to end up in the home?
Roshad (miraculously) is expecting to return home soon.
