Mother, son charged with child neglect after 12-year-old killed in accidental shooting
EDMOND, Okla. (KFOR) — A mother and her son have been charged with felony child neglect following the accidental shooting death of a 12-year-old boy in September at their Edmond home.
According to court documents, Edmond Police responded to a call from Kershena Cotton who told dispatchers on September 28 that someone at the home, who was later identified Cotton's 12-year-old son Tyler Taffe, had been shot and was dead at around 2:51 a.m.
Taffe reportedly lived with his father in Oklahoma City and attended Millwood Middle School, but stayed at the Edmond home with Cotton a few nights each month.
The documents allege that Cotton's 18-year-old son, Logan Walker, told officers during an interview that he usually shares a room with Taffe when he's visiting. Walker said in an interview with police that he had told Taffe to get into his bed so he wasn't sleeping on the floor while Walker was playing video games.
Walker reportedly told police he had a headset on with one ear covered when her heard Taffe call his name twice before he heard a loud boom. Walker then turned and ran over to Taffe, shaking him and asking if he was okay, but the 12-year-old would not respond.
Documents say Walker then picked the gun up from the floor and removed the magazine before putting the gun on a bedside table and running to Cotton's bedroom to apologize. Cotton then called 9-1-1 after finding Taffe unresponsive in Walker's bedroom.
In her interview with police, Cotton reportedly told officers she was awake when she heard the gunshot, and the gun found in Walker's bedroom belonged to her. She also said she took Walker and her 20-year-old son to a gun range in Oklahoma City on September 10.
Police said Cotton was adamant that no ammunition was brought home from the gun range or kept in her house. She also told Walker to lock up her gun in the gun safe inside her bedroom closet, but admitted she didn't check to make sure Walker had locked up the gun.
Walker allegedly admitted later in his interview that he kept additional ammunition from the gun range in his pocket and loaded it into a magazine when the returned home, and left the gun on his bedside table until the incident because he didn't remember Cotton telling him to lock it up.
According to police, Walker also said that he saw Taffe picking up the gun on a previous day and asked him to put the gun down.
Cotton and Walker are both facing felony child neglect charges in connection to the incident.