A Chicago man was ordered held in lieu of $5,000 bail Thursday, after his 5-year-old son found his gun and accidentally shot himself in the hand Tuesday evening, detaching part of his right index finger.
Kevin Collins, 25, was charged Tuesday with three felonies: being an armed habitual criminal, unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, police said. He was also charged with misdemeanor child endangerment.
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Two of Collins’ other children, ages 2 and 3, were present at the time of the incident, prosecutors said.
Collins was previously convicted of retail theft in 2015 and theft in 2010, according to records.
Collins is expected back in court Tuesday. Judge Michael Clancy ordered him to have no contact with the complaining witness if he is released from Cook County Jail.
The incident is the second time Collins’ young son, Kavan, has been shot. In June 2016, the boy, then 3, was shot in the jaw while outside in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood with his mother. Neither was the intended target of the shooting, police said.
Kavan suffered a broken jaw following the incident but recovered physically. Emotionally, said Dantignay Brashear, his mother, the incident changed the child, convincing him he needed a gun for safety.
“Ever since his first tragedy, he [hasn’t] been the same,” Brashear told the Tribune Wednesday. “He’s growing up to think that’s what he needs for protection.”
The boy’s family expects to have him home for Christmas.
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