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Man pleads guilty in accidental shooting that killed 3-year-old

Court records show Vincent Gilliams was sentenced to one year suspended, and will serve one year probation.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man charged after a shooting in Castalia Heights left a 3-year-old child dead has pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide.

Court records show Vincent Gilliams was sentenced to one year in prison, which was suspended, and will serve one year probation. 

The Memphis Police Department responded to the incident April 7 just after 11:30 p.m. in the 1900 block of Frisco Avenue, where officers found a 3-year-old boy with an apparent gunshot wound.

He was taken to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead.

Preliminary information indicate the shooting was accidental, police said.

According to an affidavit, Gilliams told investigators that he and a woman were home with their five children when the incident occurred. He had taken his clothes off and placed them in a loveseat, leaving his handgun in his pants pocket. He was playing a video game when he heard a "pop" behind him and then saw his son fall to the floor with a gunshot wound, the affidavit said.

Investigators found one spent shell casing on the loveseat.

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