Florida's Dustin Adkins is barred from possessing guns after a handgun he was showing off in 2011 accidentally discharged, killing a 13-year-old girl. That's why Titusville police say they were dumbfounded to discover that Adkins' own 9-year-old daughter was shot Saturday when her father allegedly left her and three other kids alone with two pistols and two rifles. "It is outrageous that this adult provided firearms and ammunition to these young children, especially given his [history]," Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson says, per People. He tells WOFL that 34-year-old Adkins had taken the children onto private property where trespassers often shoot targets, then left them with the guns while he went to check a hog trap. His daughter was accidentally shot by a sibling and is in critical but stable condition, per WOFL.
Adkins didn't call 911 or visit a nearby fire station but drove his daughter "to a hospital on the other side of the city," Hutchinson says, adding police later found the firearms hidden in brush and an old tire. Other officers "had me repeat myself several times, because they couldn't believe the facts were correct," he continues. "We are all extremely hopeful that the criminal justice system will keep this man away from guns and kids in the future until he pays the price." Held without bond on charges including aggravated child neglect causing great bodily harm, "[Adkins] may not have been holding the gun this time, but he was the adult and he left them alone," Willis Canada, the father of the girl killed in 2011, tells WOFL. "Now, another child has paid for his negligence." Adkins served two years on a manslaughter conviction for that crime and is on probation. (More shooting stories.)
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