Florida police have charged two family members with covering up a fatal shooting allegedly committed by a 2-year-old in a Gainesville apartment last month.
“It has been determined that Bernard Carter III was accidentally shot while inside his home by a toddler who had access to a firearm,” the Gainesville Police Department announced Thursday.
Investigators initially asked the public for help in finding Carter’s killer after they were told he walked into his family’s apartment with a gunshot wound on March 24. He died days later in a northern Florida hospital.
Working on a tip, detectives said they took another look at the case and determined that series of events was inaccurate.
According to law enforcement, a toddler inside the victim’s home with “immediate access to an unsecured handgun” fired the shot that killed 21-year-old Carter.
“The toddler grabbed the handgun, causing it to fire, striking Carter,” police said. “Adults within the home knew what occurred, but chose to cover up the incident and actively misled law enforcement about the events surrounding Carter’s death for multiple weeks.”
In addition to wasting investigators’ time, misinformation allegedly given by members of Carter’s family deprived the young gunman and two other children of “necessary crisis-related services” in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Carter’s 50-year-old mother Lawanda Wade was taken into custody Wednesday for her role in misleading authorities. Quante Whitaker, the victim’s 29-year-old brother, is accused of evidence tampering and perjury. Police expect to arrest him as well.
