Emma Jane Huver: Michigan woman arrested after her 2-year-old son fatally shoots himself in the face at a gas station
LANSING, MICHIGAN: A Michigan woman has been arrested after her two-year-old son got hold of a handgun and fatally shot himself in the face at a gas station last month.
Emma Jane Huver, 26, faces multiple felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, second-degree child abuse, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the tragic slaying of young King Muhammad.
According to the Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Huver was also charged with one count of carrying a concealed weapon and three counts of felony firearm possession for allegedly having a firearm with her during the commission of manslaughter, child abuse, and unlawful firearm possession by a felon, Lansing State Journal reports.
According to a criminal complaint, Huver is accused of either killing King through negligent performance by “discharging a loaded firearm in the immediate proximity of her two-year-old minor child” or negligent failure to perform by leaving him “unsupervised” and with “access to and use of a loaded firearm while the child was unrestrained in a motor vehicle.”
Emma Jane Huver was traveling with her son before the incident
Just prior to the shooting, Huvel and her son were traveling with 44-year-old Avis Damone Coward who has since been arrested and charged in federal court with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
As per court documents, surveillance footage revealed that the shooting took place at about 3 pm on October 24 at a Sunoco gas station located in the 3000 block of Dunckel Road in Lansing, Michigan. The car, a white GMC Yukon truck driven by Coward, was seen parking next to one of the gas pumps.
About two minutes after parking, at about 3.02 pm, Coward can be seen getting out of the car and going into the gas station. Just a minute later, the footage showed “a small bullet hole” suddenly appearing in the front passenger window of the vehicle.
At 3.04 pm, a woman later identified as Huver is shown getting out of the passenger seat “holding a two-year-old child who had blood on his face.” As Huver exited the vehicle, authorities said that a gun could be seen falling to the ground.
What does the complaint state?
“The mother handed the child to Coward, who then handed the child to another person nearby. That person took the child into the gas station and attempted to control the bleeding until medical personnel arrived,” the complaint states.
“At 3:04 pm, Coward started to close the front passenger door, but then leaned down, picked up the gun, and put it back in the car. Coward also used his hand to break out the front passenger window, which had the bullet hole," it adds.
The victim died at the hospital
Coward then got back into the driver’s seat and drove the car away from the gas station. The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. Police responded to the scene and Huver agreed to speak with them about what led to her son’s fatal injury.
“She said that after her friend, ‘Avis,’ got out of the car, her child got into the front seat. She said that she was on the phone and not paying attention when she heard an ‘explosion’ and saw that her child had shot himself in the head.” Huver appeared in court on Monday, November 27, where a judge set her bond at $85,000.
“This case is a parent’s worst nightmare. It’s heartbreaking and reinforces the importance of responsible gun ownership and safety storage,” Detroit Field Division Special Agent in Charge James Deir said in a statement about the incident.
“A child should never be left alone with a gun. Leaving the gun at home in a secure gun safe or using a safety device, such as a gun lock, prevent tragedies like this," the statement added.