NJ man gets prison after son, 4, fatally shoots child

TOMS RIVER – A Toms River man, who accepted responsibility for the fatal shooting of his 6-year-old neighbor by his 4-year-old son, was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for leaving the loaded rifle that killed the boy unsecured and accessible to the children in his home.

Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels imposed the prison term on Anthony R. Senatore, 35, for his role in the 2013 shooting death of Brandon Holt.

Awaiting his sentence this morning, Senatore was remorseful for the death of a little boy he said was like part of his own family.

“Brandon played with my own three children regularly and was a guest in my home on many occasions,” Senatore told the judge before he was sentenced.

“We could not have imagined that such a horrific event would occur,” Senatore said, adding that he thinks about the tragedy all day, every day.

“The torment of these thoughts will occupy me throughout my existence on this earth,” he said, but added that his suffering will never compare to what the Holt family has to endure.

Christine Holt, the victim’s mother, shed some light on that.

“On April 9, 2013, we had to watch a sweet, beautiful little boy take his last breath,” she said.

“We used to imagine what he would be when he got older and grew up,” Christine Holt said. “Now we can only imagine what he could have been.”

She said although her family doesn’t own any guns, she suffers with guilt for what happened to her son.

“I couldn’t protect him, I couldn’t save him,” she said, tearfully. “I would have done anything to be able to do that.”

Senatore pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to two counts of child endangerment, admitting to Daniels that a loaded, .22-caliber rifle he left unsecured in his home was used by his 4-year-old boy to fatally shoot Brandon on April 8, 2013.

Senatore admitted his actions endangered not only Brandon, but his own children, to whom his unsecured firearms were accessible.

His children were ages 12, 8 and 4 at the time of Brandon’s death. In his home at the time were five unsecured firearms — the loaded rifle, and four shotguns, with ammunition nearby, authorities said.

Senatore could have faced up to 10 years in prison for each child endangerment charge to which he pleaded guilty. Diane Ruberton, first assistant Atlantic County Prosecutor, recommended a three-year prison term, which was part of a plea agreement with the defendant.

The plea agreement also required Senatore to forfeit his weapons and his firearms purchaser identification card.

Senatore had been free on bail as he awaited sentencing.

Authorities said the tragedy occurred April 8, 2013, when Senatore’s young son gained access to the loaded rifle in his father’s bedroom and fired a single shot into the older boy’s head. Brandon was taken to a hospital, where he died the following day.

After the child’s tragic death, the state Attorney General’s Office directed the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office to take over the investigation from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office because some members of Senatore’s family had previously worked closely with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. At the conclusion of the investigation, Senatore was arrested May 13, 2013, and charged with six counts of child endangerment — one for each unsecured weapon left accessible to his own children and another for making the weapon that killed Brandon unsecured in his bedroom. All but two of the charges were dismissed as part of the plea bargain.