PALMETTO, Fla. — Manatee County Sheriff's Office said a man was charged with negligence after a nine-year-old used a gun to shoot a five-year-old.
According to court documents, MCSO detectives said they responded to a shooting with injuries in March of 2026. When they arrived, they found the five-year-old child with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Detectives learned that nine-year-old boy found a gun in the primary bedroom of the house and unintentionally discharged it, accidentally shooting the 5-year-old child in the chest.
On March 27, the Child Protection Team interviewed the nine-year-old boy and learned he entered his father's bedroom to look for Pokémon pens. While he was searching, the boy said he found the gun on the floor under the bed.
Authorities said the boy's father, Robert Giles of Palmetto, said he stored the gun in his nightstand and was in the kitchen when he heard the gunshot. Giles said that when he saw the five-year-old child had suffered a gunshot wound, he placed the gun in a secure safe.
The child sustained severe injuries and was hospitalized.
Giles was charged with culpable negligence (a third-degree felony), to which he pleaded not guilty.
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