2-year-old boy put mom's loaded gun in his mouth and killed himself after mistaking it for his water pistol: 'The mom was high on meth at the time'
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: A Colorado mom whose young son died after he mistakenly put her loaded firearm into his mouth and pulled the trigger thinking it was a water pistol will spend more than two decades behind bars.
The gruesome incident took place on October 21, 2018, at the Hartford Street, Colorado Springs home of Melissa Michelle Adamson, 33, according to Oxygen.
Deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the residence on reports of a shooting and were flagged down by Adamson and her partner when they reached the scene. Adamson was holding her two-year-old son Lokhi Bloom in her arms. Life-saving measures were initiated before the young boy was transported to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Authorities learned that Lokhi had shot himself after he put his mother's loaded gun in his mouth, and during their investigation, uncovered that the two-year-old did so because he habitually drank water from a squirt gun.
When questioned, Adamson admitted she was high at the time of the shooting. She claimed she was a recovering methamphetamine addict and had loaded the gun after receiving threatening messages from a drug dealer. Besides the loaded gun, detectives had also found an ax and drug needles lying around the house, within the reach of her son and two other children.
This past week, Judge Linda Billings-Vela told Adamson, who pleaded guilty to charges of child abuse, that this was "one of the most difficult sentencing hearings I've ever presided over" before handing down the prison term.
Her surviving sons wrote letters about her that were shared in court where they detailed the abuse she put them through and asked that she be given the harshest sentence possible.
Billings-Vela ultimately sentenced the 33-year-old to 24 years in prison -- 12 years for one count of child abuse resulting in death and two further six-year sentences for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the latter of which stemmed from an allegation that she gave her sons marijuana in exchange for completing their chores.