INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis mother has been charged with neglect after her 7-year-old son accidentally shot himself in the stomach on the east side of Indianapolis in late January.
Online court records show that Asia Deberry has been preliminarily charged with three felony counts of neglect of a dependent after Indianapolis Metropolitan police said her son shot himself after grabbing Deberry’s firearm from her purse while inside their east side residence, according to court documents.
According to previous reports, officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department were dispatched on Jan. 29 to the 9100 block of Granville Court near E. 21st Street and N. Post Road in response to a person shot run.
Officers arrived and found the 7-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound to the stomach. He was immediately transported to Riley Children’s Hospital in stable condition.
The child was treated at Riley for “two penetrating wounds … one to the ventral (abdomen) and one to the (right) flank,” court documents said.
Youth violence and accidental shootings involving minors have continued to increase in frequency across the Circle City so far this year. This has led to renewed calls from law enforcement for gun owners to do their part to prevent these incidents from happening, which includes locking up firearms that are stored inside homes where children reside.
Riley Hospital has treated five juvenile gunshot victims so far in 2024. Last year, 54 children received medical treatment for gunshot wounds, with 38 of those being intentional and targeted attacks and the other 16 being classified as accidental or unintentional.
A 2-year-old boy was found with an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head earlier this week on Indy’s near northeast side. The toddler died hours after the initial shooting.
The city’s Office of Public Health and Safety has even announced its intentions to hire a chief prevention officer to help curb the growing tide of violence affecting youth.
As part of their investigation to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the shooting, IMPD detectives executed a search warrant at the east side residence where they conducted an interview with Deberry.
During the interview, court documents show that Deberry informed detectives that her 7-year-old son was dropped off at the home along with four other children.
Deberry allegedly told police that she placed her purse on top of a kitchen table after she arrived at the residence. The purse reportedly had a “little handgun” inside of it that was purple. Deberry was reportedly sitting on a couch in another room when she heard a gunshot ring out from the kitchen.
It was at that moment that Deberry told detectives that she found her son suffering from a gunshot wound to the stomach and immediately called 911. During their interview, Deberry allegedly told police that she believed the same purse was still sitting on the kitchen table but detectives actually located it in the passenger seat of a white Dodge Charger that was parked in the driveway of the residence.
Detectives said the handgun was moved from the kitchen to the parked Charger before IMPD and emergency medical services arrived, according to court documents.
Court documents show that officers discovered multiple weapons while executing a search warrant on the property, including a .22 caliber revolver, AR15 and a single-action/double-action revolver. Officers also reportedly found several glass jars containing marijuana and digital scales in multiple rooms throughout the home.
Officers also found a black gun case allegedly containing a .22 caliber rifle, a 12 gauge shotgun and a short barrel shotgun.
The purple handgun that was used in the original shooting contained six live 9 mm bullets when detectives recovered it from the passenger seat of the Dodge Charger, court documents said.
“It should be noted that during the execution of the search warrant 6 more firearms
were recovered. 3 of those firearms were accessible by anyone, including children.
Specifically, two loaded handguns were in the master bedroom, in the top drawer of a
nightstand,” court documents said. “The third firearm was an AR15 with a loaded magazine inserted (no round in chamber) was in the spare room downstairs, on the floor of the closet. No trigger locks, no lock boxes and no firearm safes were located.”
The Department of Child Services said that Deberry had previously agreed to practice gun safety during an assessment that took place in Septemeber 2020 and that she “failed to continue to follow appropiate safety measures to ensure the children cannot access firearms in her home.”
A trial date has not yet been set for Deberry.
