HAMILTON, Ohio — A man whose gun fell into the hands of a 3-year-old child who then fatally shot himself will spend at least seven years in prison, a judge determined on Monday.
Benjamin Bishop, a former Centerville police officer, pleaded guilty in September to one count of involuntary manslaughter. He was originally indicted in June on one count of involuntary manslaughter, one count of endangering children and one count of reckless homicide.
According to Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser, the child, Jared Green, shot himself on March 30. Crews were called to a home on Park Avenue in Hamilton at around 7 p.m. where they found the boy with a gunshot wound on the side of his head.
Green was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital where he died on March 31, according to the Hamilton County Coroner's Office.
Gmoser said at the time he didn't believe Bishop had any intention of harming Green, but he said Bishop created a dangerous environment by leaving a gun where the child could access it.
Family members of the child agreed, stepping up to plead with the judge to give Bishop a harsher sentence in court on Monday. Family members read victim impact statements, telling the judge that Green had lived with developmental disabilities, so the family had insisted on strict gun safety rules, which they said Bishop ignored.
Lindsay Sheehan, assistant Butler County prosecutor, said Bishop's loaded gun was found unsecured on a window sill.
Family members told the judge on Monday there had been a second unsecured gun underneath a bedside table in the same room.
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