4-year-old boy fatally shot himself with gun left on dollhouse in Indiana, police say

MUNCIE, Ind. — City police said a 4-year-old Muncie boy fatally shot himself Monday with a loaded handgun left on a child's dollhouse.

The shooting occurred at a house and was reported to emergency dispatchers shortly after noon. The child, wounded in the head, was taken by ambulance to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Later in the day, the boy's mother, Alycia Justyne Smith, 22, and her 19-year-old boyfriend, Joseph Paul Marquiz Jackson, were arrested on preliminary counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony carrying up to 40 years in prison.

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They remained in the jail on Tuesday under $55,000 bonds.

According to an affidavit, Jackson told investigators he owned a 9mm handgun that he routinely left "sitting on a dollhouse" in the bedroom he shared with Smith and her two children, ages 4 and 2.

On Monday, he and Smith indicated, the 4-year-old boy – who commonly climbed on objects – gained access to the gun, which police said would have been three feet, two inches above floor level.

Jackson said he was downstairs when the gun discharged in the second-floor bedroom.

Smith said she was in the bedroom with both of her children when her son was fatally wounded. She said the boy had been "playing on a desk chair" before she saw him "holding the gun."

The firearm then discharged and the child collapsed to the floor.

Smith said Jackson – who had reportedly resided with Smith and her children for about a month – had left his gun sitting on the dollhouse "at least 10 times," resulting in several related arguments.

Jackson, however, maintained Smith had "no objections" to where he kept the gun.

Police reported there was a large gun safe on the home's first floor that could have been used to store the handgun.

On Tuesday afternoon, Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman formally charged Smith and Jackson with the neglect-resulting-in-death counts.

They were also each charged with neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony with a maximum 30-month sentence. The cases were filed in Delaware Circuit Court 4.

Deputy Police Chief Melissa Criswell asked anyone with information on Monday's shooting to call her department's detective division.