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Florida Man Allegedly Leaves Kids Alone With Guns, Leading To The Accidental Shooting Of A 9-Year-Old Girl
Dustin Adkins had been previously convicted in 2011 for manslaughter “involving the shooting death of a child.”
A Florida man on probation for shooting a child less than a decade ago is accused of leaving children unsupervised with access to firearms, resulting in a 9-year-old girl being “accidentally” shot by her sibling over the weekend.
Dustin Adkins, 34, of Titusville, Florida was arrested for the shooting and remanded without bond by a judge on Sunday.
He's been charged with aggravated child neglect with great bodily harm, weapons violations and violating his probation after the girl was rushed to the emergency room Parrish Medical Center at around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to a release by the Titusville Police Department.
The critically injured child was moved by helicopter to an Orlando hospital, News 13 reported.
“It is outrageous that this adult provided firearms and ammunition to these young children,” Titusville Police Department Dept. Chief Todd Hutchinson stated in the release. “Especially given his past arrest and conviction.”
The victim had been out in the woods near State Road 407 and north of Interstate 95 “shooting firearms” along with three other children and Adkins.
“At some point, the adult left the children unsupervised and a nine-year-old girl was shot by a sibling accidentally while shooting at a target,” according to the release.
The convicted man was allegedly checking on a hog trap, News 14 reported, citing an arrest affidavit.
The girl was shot in the left hip area, according to the television station.
Later, investigators scoured the woods and said they soon discovered “several firearms” left underneath a tire left along a trail.
Police confirmed that Adkins was already on probation for a manslaughter conviction “involving the shooting death of a child.”
That case was adjudicated back in 2011, and Adkins was freed after serving two years in prison.
At the time, Adkins had been showing a friend a firearm and when it suddenly discharged. The bullet shot through a wall and struck a 13-year-old child in the adjoining kitchen, according to News 13.
The child later died.
Adkins is expected to be back in court on Jan. 23, jail records show.
