- Chepial Williams has spoken out about her bitter regret over buying a gun after her two-year-old son accidentally committed suicide with it in April
- The mother, who has two other children, Destiny, 7, and Za’Niyah, 10, said she regretted buying the gun to protect herself during a dispute with her neighbor.
- According to the Gun Violence Archive, Ayden King is one of more than 1,300 children and teens in the US.
A Georgia mother has spoken out about her bitter regret about buying a gun after her two-year-old son accidentally committed suicide with it in April.
Chepial Williams’ young son, Ayden King, found her black .380 handgun in her bag on her nightstand and shot himself in the face on April 26.
“It felt like my whole heart was being ripped out of me,” Williams told CNN.
The mother, who has two other children, Destiny, 7, and Za’Niyah, 10, said she regretted buying the gun to protect herself during a dispute with her neighbor.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, Ayden is one of more than 1,300 children and teens in the US.
Chepial Williams’ boy, Ayden King, found her black .380 handgun in her bag on her nightstand and shot herself in the face on April 26
“I felt like my whole heart was ripped out of me,” Williams said of the incident
According to the Gun Violence Archive, Ayden is one of more than 1,300 children and teens in the US.
“Be careful,” Williams implored other parents. “Even if you have guns in your home, make sure they are stored in a safe place. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye.”
In early 2022, Williams got into an argument with her downstairs neighbor at the family’s apartment complex on the south side of LaGrange, a mid-sized city about 65 miles southwest of Atlanta.
According to police reports, the other woman complained about Williams and her children “incessantly making noises in the upstairs apartment that are disturbing her and her family.”
The dispute began to escalate and Williams was violently attacked with a black metal cooking pot wrapped in plastic bags.
The neighbor ran up to Williams and hit her on the head with the pot.
A fight broke out and a police officer found Williams with a busted lip and blood on her sweatshirt.
The other woman was arrested on charges including battery and told police: ‘It’s OK, my family are from Birmingham and they will take care of her situation.’
Williams feared for her safety and that of her children, so she bought a black .380 pistol and practiced with it at a shooting range.
The weapon was usually kept in the mother’s bag or hidden under the mattress
In 2020, firearms became the leading cause of death among children and teens in America, surpassing car accidents
The gun was usually kept in her bag or hidden under the mattress.
On April 26, Williams remembers “hearing a loud bang” while eating dinner.
In a panic, she ran into the bedroom and found her son on the floor with the gun next to him.
Williams ran to a neighbor for help, who attempted CPR and police were called.
“Upon arrival,” a police officer wrote in a report, “I observed a black female holding the two-year-old child and running toward me as I exited my patrol vehicle.
“The female handed me the 2-year-old child while she was crying and I then held the child, placed him on the ground and immediately began CPR.
“The child was bleeding from his mouth and I saw a gunshot wound in the center of his face, near his nose. I continued CPR but couldn’t feel any heartbeats.’
In 2020, firearms became the leading cause of death among children and teens in America, surpassing car accidents.