Kelly Pittman
The mother of the three-year-old Apison boy who killed himself with a gun has been charged in his death.
Kelly L. Pittman (also known as Kelly Leigh-Anne Michaels) was arrested Monday on charges of child endangerment and criminally negligent homicide.
The child, Gavin Pittman, died last Monday after shooting himself in the head while in the family's van at their residence.
Detective Mickey Rountree said the child got out of his car seat while the mother was outside their van talking on the phone after arriving home.
The detective said the child crawled to the front seat and got a loaded Taurus .380 caliber pistol out of the unlocked glove compartment.
He then shot himself in the face, with the bullet exiting his skull.
Two other small children were also in the van.
Detective Rountree said Ms. Pittman was on the phone as she arrived home, and she stepped outside to continue the call.
Ms. Pittman said she kept the gun for protection and usually had the glove compartment locked. She said she did not know why it was unlocked at the time.
She said while she was on the phone she heard a "pop" and found that her son had shot himself.
She said she called 911, then rendered aid to him until paramedics arrived.
The warrant said Ms. Pittman "exposed her son to a situation that endangered him by leaving him unattended inside a vehicle with a loaded firearm and that exposure adversely affected his health."
Ms. Pittman, 26, was booked at the Hamilton County Jail.
She was placed under a $500,000 bond.
She is due to appear before General Sessions Court Judge David Bales next Monday.