MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A Middletown man has changed his plea to guilty after his 4-year-old sibling shot himself with an unsecured gun found in the seat of an SUV at Jacot Park.
Yvonte Glover was initially indicted on one count of child endangering, a third-degree felony. He pleaded not guilty to that charge. On Tuesday, in court, he changed his plea to guilty on an amended, lesser charge of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, a fifth-degree felony.
The new charge carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.
Glover is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 28 and remains on bond, released on his own recognizance until then.
According to court documents, Glover took the 4-year-old sibling and his three young children to Jacot Park on Grand Avenue in Middletown. When the 4-year-old walked back to the car to get his drink, he grabbed Glover's unsecured Smith and Wesson 9-millimeter instead, firing it into his stomach.
The gun was stuffed between the seat and the center console. The child has since recovered from the through-and-through shot, according to officials.
Jacot Park was full of people on the warm spring evening, and police say there are several witnesses. Dispatchers received two 911 calls.
A woman told dispatchers the vehicle had left the park, probably en route to a hospital.
“A boy came out of the vehicle and he was crying ... he had a lot of blood on his back,” she said. “There was a commotion that it was a gunshot wound.”
Watch Live:
