After Boy Is Shot in the Head, Great-Grandfather Is Charged

Days after a 6-year-old boy fatally shot his 5-year-old brother, the children's great-grandfather has been charged. Rayfield Ruffin, 72, is accused of failing to safely store the firearm used in the Oct. 8 shooting that killed Karter Rosenboro, a kindergartener at Northwest Elementary School in Greenville, North Carolina, per USA Today. Authorities arrived at Ruffin's Greenville home that evening to find Karter, who died later at a hospital, with a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Pitt County Sheriff's Office. They say Karter's 6-year-old brother accidentally shot him, per WITN.

Ruffin was the owner of the firearm, per USA Today. Arrested Oct. 10, he's charged over a violation of a statute ensuring proper storage of firearms to protect minors. He's since been released on $2,000 bond. The CDC notes unintentional injury is one of the leading causes of death among children, with firearms a leading method of injury. "Overall, firearms used in unintentional injury deaths were often stored both loaded and unlocked and were commonly accessed from nightstands and other sleeping areas," according to the agency. It says about half of unintentional firearm injury deaths among children happen at home or while playing with or showing off the weapon.

The circumstances around the shooting are unclear, but "it was a terribly sad and tragic event," Sgt. Lee Darnell tells USA Today. Karter "had just started to bloom and show his personality," according to an obituary. "He was funny and he enjoyed making people laugh ... but he would still fight you over his hat and definitely didn't play about his gold chain." The 5-year-old leaves behind a mother and father and five siblings, including twin sister Khloe, who "was always his protector," the obituary reads. More than $7,000 has been raised for the family. (More shooting death stories.)