Father accused of destroying evidence after 2-year-old shoots self; 3 charged in connection with boy's death
Avis Coward (Ingham County Jail)
LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - After a 2-year-old boy fatally shot himself in Lansing, his father and another person allegedly burned the car and hid the gun in an attempt to destroy evidence.
According to the United States Attorney's Office, Avis Damone Coward, 43, got out of his vehicle at a Lansing gas station, leaving his 2-year-old son with the child's mother, 26-year-old Emma Huver, on Oct. 24. Surveillance video showed that a minute later, a bullet hole appeared in the car window.
As Huver got out of the car, Coward's gun fell out of the vehicle, authorities said. Huver was holding the baby, who had blood on his face from a gunshot wound. She handed the child to Coward, who handed the child to a third person, who attempted to stop the bleeding. However, the child later died.
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Authorities say Coward went back to the car, where he allegedly put his gun back in the car and punched out the window that had the bullet hole. He then left.
That car was later found burned-out and abandoned in a field in Lansing, and the barrel of the gun was found disassembled and hidden in the wall of a house.
Authorities say Coward and another person, 26-year-old Gina Schieberl, were trying to hide evidence of the shooting.
Coward is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, conspiracy to tamper with evidence and tampering with evidence, and Schieberl is charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence and tampering with evidence. Huver is also being charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Emma Huver (MDOC)
"The allegations in this case represent the most horrific side of gun ownership and the tragic unintended consequences associated with poor choices. Coward is prohibited from lawfully possessing a firearm. He chose to possess an illegal firearm and to leave a loaded firearm unsecured in a vehicle with a toddler in it," said Special Agent in Charge James Deir of the FBI Detroit Field Office.