A Michigan man has become the first person charged under a new gun storage law after his two-year-old daughter shot herself in the head.
Michael Tolbert, 44, was arraigned on Monday on nine felony charges including single counts of first-degree child abuse and violation of Michigan‘s gun storage law, said John Potbury, Genesee County’s deputy chief assistant prosecuting attorney.
Mr Tolbert’s daughter Skye McBride remains in a critical condition in hospital after the 14 February shooting.
Michigan’s new safe storage gun law had only come into force the previous day, the first anniversary of a shooting at Michigan State University, which killed two students and left others critically wounded.
It is part of a sweeping reform of gun regulations in the state.
The law took effect a week after a Michigan jury convicted a shooter’s mother of involuntary manslaughter, making her the first parent in the US to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school shooting.
Mr Tolbert pleaded guilty to all charges, which also included one count each of felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, lying to a peace officer in a violent crime investigation and four counts of felony firearm.
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The 44-year-old, from the city of Flint, is barred from possessing firearms and ammunition because he has multiple firearms-related and drug-related convictions.
Flint police learned of the shooting after Mr Tolbert took the girl to a hospital.
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Officers found two guns in the bedroom of the man’s home – a revolver used in the shooting and a semiautomatic pistol. Both were unsecured and loaded. Police said they found no gun locks or safes in the bedroom.
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A GoFundMe page to cover medical funds described Skye as a “ball of energy, a joy to be around and the star of our lives”.
