Dad faces gun charge after boy accidentally shot, killed mom

CHICAGO (AP) — Police say the father of a 3-year-old boy who accidentally shot his mother to death in a Chicago suburb is facing a misdemeanor gun charge.

Dolton Police Chief Robert Collins said Monday evening that 23-year-old Romell Watson will be charged with unlawful use of a weapon.

Collins says police are confident that the boy fired the weapon but that the gun was the father’s responsibility.

The shooting happened Saturday night in the community of Dolton, just south of Chicago.

Collins says the boy was sitting in a car seat in the back seat of the car when he somehow found a gun and began playing with it.

He says his parents did not know he had the weapon before it fired, striking 22-year-old Daejah Bennett in the neck.

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