Articles labeled: montana

Last week a 19-month-old was fatally shot, and at the time a man living at her house claimed she was playing with the gun and it accidentally went off. Now, after investigating further, police are claiming that the toddler wasn’t holding the gun when it was fired. Looks like someone may have been telling a bit of a falsehood…

According to court documents, Dwayne Smail told investigators he placed the 9 mm pistol - which had no safety - on an exposed portion of his bed’s box spring before he went to sleep March 5. He awoke to Korbyn tapping him on the shoulder and holding the gun. When Smail tried to grab it from her, it went off, according to the documents. The girl died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.

Smail was charged Friday with negligent homicide. His arraignment is scheduled for March 27.

Detectives are investigating where Smail and Korbyn were in relation to each other when the gun went off. They also are analyzing DNA and gunshot residue and trying to determine how much pressure on the trigger is required to fire the weapon. Additional information on how the gun discharged was not available Wednesday.

“I’m fearful that the release of any further information at this point could compromise the investigation,” Landis said.