Lansing man federally charged in toddler’s death
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office has filed a federal charge against the man police say left a loaded gun in a vehicle with a toddler, only to have the toddler shoot and kill himself.
The shooting happened on Oct. 24 at the Sunoco gas station on Dunkel Rd. in Lansing. Avis Damone Coward, 44, from Lansing, is the man being charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
“Death of child by gunfire is a story that should never be written,” said U.S. Attorney Mark
Totten. “Yet beginning in 2022, and for the first time ever, gun violence has become the number
one cause of death for kids in America. As this swelling epidemic reaches our most innocent, my
office will use every resource available to secure full accountability and prevent future harm.”
According to the Criminal Complaint (below), Coward was driving a white GMC Yukon and pulled into the gas station in front of a pump at 3 p.m. This and more of what is described were recorded by the security cameras.
After two minutes, Coward got out of the SUV and walked toward the gas station. At 3 p.m. a bullet hole appeared in the vehicle’s front passenger window, according to the complaint.
Then, according to the complaint, one minute later a woman exited the SUV. She was later identified as the toddler’s mother. When she got out of the SUV a gun fell to the ground.
The video shows the mother handing the child to Coward who then handed the child to someone else at the gas station who provided medical care to the child before first responders arrived. Coward is then seen picking up the gun and putting it back in the SUV before closing the door and smashing the window with his hand, according to the complaint.
Investigators said Coward then got back into the Yukon and drove away.
Lansing police found Coward later that day and arrested him, but did not find the Yukon.
While in jail, police said Coward made a call to a woman whom he asked to find his phones and directed her where to find it. Investigators said they believed that the phones were code for guns.
In the morning after the shooting Coward called the same woman and spoke to her and a man on the call about the phones. Investigators used these calls to track these people down and ended up recovering two handguns along with a BB gun and five grams of meth. Police arrested this man and he told them Coward had told him where to find the gun.
One of the guns was disassembled, and police said this man then told them where to find a gun barrel that was hidden inside a wall.
One week after the shooting police found the Yukon in which the child shot himself burned out in a field in Lansing.
Coward now faces a federal charge because he was a previously convicted six-time felon for crimes between 1998 to 2021.
Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane released the following statement on this incident:
Across our community, we are saddened to learn of the tragic death of a two-year old child who gained access to a loaded handgun and died as a result.
Locally and nationally, we have far too many senseless, preventable deaths as a result of children and young persons having access to firearms.
I believe the recent gun violence and safety legislation, supported by Gov. Whitmer and legislative majorities, will make a difference. The laws mandating safe storage and universal background checks will take effect in March.
No child should have access to a handgun, period. However, due to the widespread proliferation of firearms, guns are all too readily available for children to encounter.
Our police across this county are working to address the gun violence crisis. Far too often, police encounter legally purchased guns being used illegally. Police are working to take these guns off the streets. At great risk to their own personal safety, they are improving the safety of our community.
We know that enforcement of gun laws improves public safety. This has been shown time and again, in academic studies as well as our own hard-learned experience.
I have been briefed by the Lansing Police Department on this incident and will review it for any and all criminal charges. Our thoughts and prayers are with the child’s family and friends in this tragedy, but of course thoughts and prayers are not enough. We must take action, to find some measure of justice and prevent similar acts from taking more of our community’s children.
Ingham County Prosecutor
