It happened while their dad, Michael Santiago, 25, was at work, their mom was at the store and the boys’ grandfather was watching them.
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The boys’ grandfather found the 3-year-old, identified as Eian Santiago, after the 6-year-old ran upstairs to him to say his brother had been shot. He was later transported in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died later on. Santiago, according to police officials is a former gang member and allegedly kept the gun for his own protection- albeit illegally. He appeared in court on Sunday and is being held on a $75,000 bond, according to DNAinfo.com Chicago, a local news web site.
Neither the Centers for Disease Control nor the Department of Justice track specific numbers of now many children unintentionally shoot and kill people. Of those, 30 were younger than 5.
The older brother reached up to the top of the fridge, where the gun was allegedly kept. He was arrested on child endangerment charges.
Back in April, a 1-year-old became the 24th child killed by gun violence after another child picked up an unsecured firearm. Michael has been charged with felony endangerment of a child. Prosecutors will need to prove that Santiago knowingly created a condition that could have resulted in harm to his children, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said. “That’s why parents should never have guns in the house”.
“There has to be a few deterrent value”, he said. In fact, he also revealed that it was Santiago who had told the elder boy about the gun and even showed the gun to the boy.
Gun control advocates have frequently argued for stronger weapon storage laws.
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Santiago was working late at Pap Ray’s Pizza, where he is a manager, and his wife, Angela Lasalle, and her father had left the boys alone for a few minutes on Saturday night.
