Pennsylvania State Police and Bucks County detectives filed charges Wednesday against a father in the shooting death of his 2-year-old son earlier this month.
The toddler, identified by the Bucks County District Attorney's Office as Benjamin Austin Smith, suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest inside the home on the 2100 block of Kumry Road, in Milford Township, on Sept. 12, according to police. He died at St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital a short time after the shooting.
Nicholas Wyllie, 26, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and reckless endangerment Wednesday morning, said court records. Wyllie, who resides in Quakertown, was released on bond Wednesday afternoon after being arraigned in a county courtroom.
Wyllie told police he and his son were watching television in the living room back on Sept. 12 when the boy said he was going to his room to watch Winnie the Pooh, according to the affidavit. Wyllie said he then heard a loud bang a few minutes later. Wyllie told police he ran to his son's bedroom where he found the boy lying on the floor, bleeding.
Police say the boy found an unlocked, unsecured, .45 caliber handgun loaded with hollow-point ammunition inside his father's bedroom and then accidentally shot himself.
Family members told investigators the boy loved guns and the child's mother, Courtney Hotaling, gave police photographs of her son holding toy guns, according to the affidavit. Hotaling, who officials say does not live with Wyllie, also told investigators Wyllie had taught their son how to use a two-handed grip when holding a toy pistol.
Wyllie's grandfather, Robert Rothmund, the owner of the home where the shooting took place, told police he had warned Wyllie to put his firearms away because of Benjamin's love for guns. Wyllie told Rothmund that he would put them away, according to the affidavit.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
“The worst part about it is that this was 100 percent avoidable,” Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub said.
Weintraub said that while Wyllie didn't attend to harm his son, officials still "believe and we will prove that he is nevertheless criminally responsible for his 2-year-old son's death."
Milford Township is about 10 miles northwest of Sellersville and about four miles southwest of central Quakertown.
