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 Road in Lansing. Avis Damone Coward, 44, from Lansing, has been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

“Death of child by gunfire is a story that should never be written,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten said in a release. “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, security footage shows Coward, driving a white GMC Yukon, pull into the gas station in front of a pump around 3 p.m.

After two minutes, Coward got out of the SUV and walked toward the gas station. A bullet hole appeared in the vehicle’s front passenger window, according to the complaint.

Then, the complaint says, a woman exited the SUV one minute later. 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. This person 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 they did not find the Yukon that day.

The child died the next day of his injuries, according to police.

While in jail, police said Coward made a call to a woman whom he asked to find his “phones,” directing her to their location. 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 the calls to track those people down and ended up recovering two handguns, along with a BB gun and 5 grams of meth.

Police arrested a man, who told them Coward had told him where to find the gun.

One of the guns was disassembled. Police said the 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 burned out in a field in Lansing.

Coward now faces a federal charge, as a previously convicted six-time felon for crimes between 1998 to 2021, according to the complaint.