MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A Middletown man is facing a felony charge after his 4-year-old sibling shot himself with an unsecured gun found in the seat of an SUV parked at Jacot Park last spring.
Yvonte I. Glover, 26, was indicted by a Butler County grand jury Wednesday for child endangering, a third-degree felony. Middletown police and prosecutors say it was his loaded handgun shoved between the seats that the boy found and used to shoot himself in the abdomen on April 12.
The child has recovered from the through-and-through shot, according to officials.
The incident happened about 5:30 p.m. at the park located in the 4000 block of Grand Avenue.
Glover was in the park with four young children, including the boy who was injured, and his girlfriend, according to Middletown police.
The boy went back to the vehicle for a drink of water when he picked up the gun and fired it, the police report says. The gun used is listed as a Smith and Wesson 9-millimeter handgun, according to the police report. It was left in the SUV between the seat and the console.
Jacot Park was full of people on the warm spring evening, and police say there are several witnesses. Dispatchers received two 911 calls.
A woman told dispatchers the vehicle had left the park, probably en route to a hospital.
“A boy came out of the vehicle and he was crying ... he had a lot of blood on his back,” she said. “There was a commotion that it was a gunshot wound.”
A warrant has been issued for Glover. The case is assigned to county common pleas Judge Noah Powers II, but an arraignment date has not been set.
It is the second pending felony case involving a Butler County hit by gunfire after apparently picking up an unsecured gun. On March 30, a 3-year-old picked up a weapon in his Hamilton home and discharged it. The child was hit in the head and died.
Benjamin Bishop, 26, was indicted in June on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide in Hamilton accidental shooting incident.
Bishop, a former Centerville police officer, was the boyfriend of the toddler’s mom, Hailey Rodriguez and the father of their infant child. He is free on bond and scheduled to be back in court Aug. 15.
Emergency crews responded at about 7 p.m. March 30 to the 900 block of Park Avenue and found the child with a gunshot wound on the left side of his head. Jared N. Green died a day later from head injuries.
Prosecutors say the toddler found the gun unsecured on a window sill.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said he has a message for parents and all gun owners:
“The gun didn’t have a brain. The only one with a brain was the owner and they are held accountable,” Gmoser said. “This (Middletown incident) could have just as easily have been a horrific event like the one involving the Hamilton child.”
He said people need to be painfully aware that “between a gun and a human being, only one has a brain. A human is the one capable of utilizing a gun in safe manner and not in a callus or reckless disregard for safety.”
Gmoser said if people do not apply their brains regarding safety issues with guns, “they (guns) will kill you, or if left out, they will kill a child who doesn’t have a mature enough brain to realize the dangers involved.”
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