Andrew J. Yawn

Montgomery Advertiser

Quinton Gibson Jr. was looking for his toy truck in his parents’ closet when he found a gun instead.

It was New Year's Eve and the 3-year-old's mother, Theresa Gibson, was in the the living room of their Yarbrough Street home playing with her two other children at the time. His father, Quinton Gibson Sr., was out getting milk. Montgomery Police Sgt. Andrew Magnus, then a corporal, had just finished interviews on another case when he got the call on New Year's Eve morning 2014: juvenile shot, possibly self-inflicted. Magnus, the case agent, arrived to find Quinton dead in his parents' bedroom after accidentally shooting himself in the face.

From 2014 to June 30 of this year, 698 minors were injured in accidental shootings and 326 were killed nationwide, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) collected by the Associated Press and USA Today Network (minors being anybody younger than 18).

Despite the accidental nature of the shootings, there are some clear trends for both the country and Alabama.

Most of the accidents (60 percent) happened at home. Most (52 percent) involved a handgun. Most (39 percent) involved minors killing or injuring themselves rather than others, and the data shows an accident is more likely to happen on holidays.

All were the case on on Dec. 31, 2014, on Yarbrough St. in Montgomery.

“I believe he had gotten in trouble and they took a toy from him that he’d gotten for Christmas. They put it up in their closet in the master bedroom. You’re talking a little kid and a top shelf. The mom was dealing with other kids in the front of the house. Kids are smart. He ended up using a chair to try to get to his toy. The gun is laying right next to the toy. He comes across it instead of the toy,” Magnus said Thursday, almost two years later.

New Year's Eve shooting death of child ruled accidental

The investigation later concluded that the 3-year-old had accidentally shot himself in the face after finding the gun.

Quinton’s aunt, Ashley Gibson, had just gotten home when her mother told her the news.

“It was so unexpected,” Gibson said. “My phone was blowing up. I went home and my mom told me. Come to find out Junior was gone. He had gotten a hold of a gun and shot himself.”

Quinton's death represents another unfortunate statistic of accidental shootings. Most incidents happen between the ages of 14 and 17, but below the age of 14, 3-year-olds account for both the most accidental shooting deaths and injuries.

According to the GVA data, about 62 percent of all incidents occurred in Southern states with Texas, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee all ranking in the top five states for accidental shootings involving minors. Alabama ranked No. 11 nationally in accidental shootings (38) and No. 5 in incidents per million people.

In Alabama, Birmingham had the most incidents with 11. Of the big four Alabama cities — Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery and Mobile — Montgomery had the lowest total with its only appearance in the data being the death of Quinton Gibson Jr.

There are some incidents not included in the data. In December 2015, for instance, 15-year-old Deandre Pettus was shot by Dashun Watts while the two were “recklessly playing” with a loaded handgun in Montgomery, according to court records. The incident was excluded from the data, however, presumably because Watts is still awaiting trial for the reckless murder charge against him.

Magnus said he has investigated several accidental shootings and shootings involving minors in his 17-year career. When the two combine, however, Magnus said it is more difficult than usual to deal with emotionally.

“It’s hard. Deaths are bad anyway, especially when they’re not natural. Kids though, the innocence... It’s just a different mindset. It’s not something you deal with, walk away from and forget about,” Magnus said.

Affidavit: Teens 'recklessly playing' with handgun before 15 year old killed

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Kevin Murphy recalled another accidental shooting about 20 years ago. Then a sergeant with MPD, Murphy was at a baseball game when he got a call about a shooting in Trenholm Court.

“A kid had found a gun and had shot and killed his brother. It was an accident. They were playing in a closet. The mother had left a pistol in the closet, and they found it by happenstance. I don’t remember the names or year but I remember how utterly tragic it was,” Murphy said. “It’s tough to see anybody get killed, but when you see a child get killed, it’s just tough.”

While data helps see the circumstances under which a minor might get an opportunity to have a gun, both Magnus and Murphy agree that the solutions are already known: firearm training and gun locks.

Only 11 states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island — have laws mandating that locks must accompany gun sales from a business. In the case of Ohio, a lock must only be offered. Of those 11, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island all rank within the top 10 lowest rates of accidental shootings involving minors. Ohio ranks the highest of the group with the 12th highest rate nationally.

Murphy said he's not surprised by high rates of gun accidents among Southern states considering the culture and lack of gun laws.

“The South is a pretty big gun culture so (the numbers) don’t surprise me. I think the common sense is, if you have kids, you gotta lock them up. When you’re talking about children, if they know it’s there, they’ll look for it. An abundance of caution is never a bad thing,” Murphy said, also pointing out that certain lock boxes, such as those with quick codes or biometric scanners, allow a gun to be easily accessible while still being safe.

As for older kids, Magnus said proper training is important. Both MPD and the sheriff’s office offer firearm familiarization courses to the public.

Magnus said that once his daughter was old enough, he took her to let her fire the gun once “to get the wow factor out of the way.”

“We took her out, did it safe. She found out real quick she didn’t want anything to do with it,” Magnus said. “At least she knew what it would do. Now that she’s older she’s had more experience going to the gun range and doing it proper, doing it safe … I’m a big advocate of your legal right to own or possess firearms, but you’ve got to do it in a safe manner.”

Chronicle of agony: Gun accidents kill at least 1 kid every other day