Mom Gets Prison Time After Toddler Mistakes Real Gun For Water Gun, Shoots Himself

A Colorado mother was sentenced to more than two decades behind bars this week for the death of her 2-year-old son, who fatally shot himself last year after he mistook his mother’s pink pistol for a water gun.

A judge sentenced Melissa Michelle Adamson, 33, to 12 years in prison for one count of child abuse resulting in death, in addition to two six-year sentences for two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, local outlet KOAA reports. 

Adamson’s 2-year-old son Lokhi Bloom shot himself on Oct. 21, 2018 after he found his mother’s loaded gun. The child often drank from a water gun, and likely believed his mother’s pink .380 pistol — which she claimed she kept loaded as protection against her drug dealer — was a toy when he shot himself in the head, per KOAA’s report.

Melissa Adamson Photo: El Paso County Sheriff's Office

Authorities were called to Hartford Street in Colorado Springs that day in response to a shooting, and upon their arrival, saw that the mother had the injured child in her arms, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said last year. Although attempts were made to save the child’s life, he was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital. Authorities confirmed then that the incident was not being investigated as a homicide.

Adamson admitted to authorities that she was high on meth when she left her gun out, according to The Gazette. She’d reportedly battled a methamphetamine addiction in the past and had been hit with drug charges before, and when authorities searched her home, they found an ax and drug paraphernalia in places where her children could have accessed the items.

She said that she loaded her gun after a drug dealer named “Beast” visited her and threatened her, the paper reports. The two had had a disagreement regarding a drug deal, according to Denver’s CBS 4.

Adamson claimed that at the time of the shooting, she was in the garage, talking to her sister on the phone, when she heard a noise from inside of the house that may have been a gunshot.

She pleaded guilty to all three charges in September, according to The Gazette. Adamson’s two six-year sentences were related to prosecutors’ claims that she gave her two other sons marijuana in exchange for completing their chores, local outlet KKTV reports.

Her remaining two sons wrote letters about their mother that were shared with the court; one of the children detailed the alleged abuse their mother inflicted on them and asked the judge to sentence her as harshly as possible, KKTV reports. In Adamson’s letter, she pledged to be better.

During sentencing, Judge Linda Billings-Vela called the case a difficult one, remarking, “This is one of the most difficult sentencing hearings I’ve ever presided over...”