4-year old Houston boy shoots self to death with drug dealing father's gun

Jaiden Pratt, age 4

Marquiez Deshon Pratt, age 20, was asleep on the sofa when his four year old son, Jaiden, found his father's loaded, stolen handgun and shot himself to death with it.  

When police responded, the father tried to escape but was captured.  Investigation of the apartment revealed drugs and drug dealing equipment.

From an article:

Marquiez Deshon Pratt, 20, had his son Jaiden for the weekend when the boy shot himself on Sunday. The boy woke up and picked up his father’s gun, which was lying nearby, and accidentally fired it into his stomach, according to police. 

When investigators arrived at the scene they found a distraught Pratt carrying his son outside of his apartment. Pratt handed the boy over, and he ran back inside, police said. Officers performed CPR on Jaiden, while other officers pursued Pratt into the apartment, according to police. 

Inside the apartment on Houston’s north side, police said they found marijuana and crack cocaine, along with scales and other items used to sell drugs. 

Pratt was arrested and charged with injury to a child by omission and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. 

Police said that the weapon Jaiden shot himself with was a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol that was taken in a 2011 burglary.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.