A White House Secret Service officer whose 3-year- old son accidentally shot himself in the stomach with his father's service weapon has been charged under a Maryland law that makes it illegal to leave a loaded gun where a minor can get to it.
The officer is accused of leaving the semiautomatic weapon unlocked and atop the refrigerator in the family's Elkridge home.
Kenneth John Bouley, 33, was served with a summons Tuesday evening, 2 1/2 weeks after he told police that he awoke to the sound of a gunshot and found his son, Kenneth Randall Bouley, bleeding on the kitchen floor.
The charge, a misdemeanor, carries no jail time. Bouley could receive up to a $1,000 fine if convicted.
Bouley, who went to Howard County's Southern District police station with his lawyer to turn himself in shortly after learning that charges had been filed, will plead not guilty to the charge, said Patrick J. McAndrew, a lawyer who represents the officer through the Fraternal Order of Police.
McAndrew said yesterday that he was "dismayed" by the investigators' decision to bring the charge.
"I do not believe this charge was warranted," he said. "What occurred was not a crime. It was a tragedy. An accident, nothing more."
But police said yesterday that the investigation turned up a "clear violation of the law."
"For that reason, it was absolutely appropriate to charge in this case," said county police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn.
County prosecutors said that their office is reviewing the case to determine whether it has "prosecutorial merit."
The boy was in good condition yesterday at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.
McAndrew said that at least one family member is with Kenny Bouley "24 hours a day."
The Secret Service has placed Bouley on administrative leave with pay pending completion of an internal review of the incident, said Special Agent Marc Connolly, a Secret Service spokesman.
Charging documents revealed for the first time the father's account of the day and hours leading to the shooting.
Bouley, a uniformed officer for the Secret Service, told police that he had gone to a training session at the Johns Hopkins University on June 7, the day before the shooting.
When he returned to the home in the 6500 block of Huntshire Drive, he put his service weapon, a Sig Sauer Model P229, a .357-caliber semiautomatic pistol, on top of the refrigerator, according to the documents.
Later, he looked for the pistol lock that Secret Service officials say they issue to their personnel, but couldn't find it and figured that his son had left it at a neighbor's house. Because it was late, he didn't call the neighbor, and the gun remained on the refrigerator "unsecured," the documents said.
When his wife left for work the next morning, Bouley and his children - Kenny and Rachel, 5 - were sleeping. Rachel told police that Kenny climbed up cabinet drawers to a countertop, got the gun and shot himself. The shot awakened Bouley, who found Kenny on the floor.
Bouley is scheduled to appear Aug. 28 in Howard County District Court.
The charge leveled against him this week is a low-level misdemeanor - one expert likened it to a traffic ticket that carries a large fine - but a gun-safety advocate said yesterday that such laws are important as a deterrent.
Maryland is one of 18 states that make it illegal to leave loaded weapons where a minor would be able to access them. Although the 1992 law is modeled on the first law (Florida's in 1989), its penalties are less strict than those of other states. In Connecticut and California, the violation is considered a felony.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October 1997 said unintentional shooting deaths among children younger than age 15 decreased by 23 percent in 12 states where such laws had been in effect for at least a year.
Joe Dennison, director of state affairs for the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it is important to enforce such laws to remind adults that they need to act responsibly where weapons are concerned.
"It's a tragedy," he said of the Bouley case. "But we really need to get the message out to people that guns need to be stored safely - away from kids."
Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun
The officer is accused of leaving the semiautomatic weapon unlocked and atop the refrigerator in the family's Elkridge home.
Kenneth John Bouley, 33, was served with a summons Tuesday evening, 2 1/2 weeks after he told police that he awoke to the sound of a gunshot and found his son, Kenneth Randall Bouley, bleeding on the kitchen floor.
The charge, a misdemeanor, carries no jail time. Bouley could receive up to a $1,000 fine if convicted.
Bouley, who went to Howard County's Southern District police station with his lawyer to turn himself in shortly after learning that charges had been filed, will plead not guilty to the charge, said Patrick J. McAndrew, a lawyer who represents the officer through the Fraternal Order of Police.
McAndrew said yesterday that he was "dismayed" by the investigators' decision to bring the charge.
"I do not believe this charge was warranted," he said. "What occurred was not a crime. It was a tragedy. An accident, nothing more."
But police said yesterday that the investigation turned up a "clear violation of the law."
"For that reason, it was absolutely appropriate to charge in this case," said county police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn.
County prosecutors said that their office is reviewing the case to determine whether it has "prosecutorial merit."
The boy was in good condition yesterday at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.
McAndrew said that at least one family member is with Kenny Bouley "24 hours a day."
The Secret Service has placed Bouley on administrative leave with pay pending completion of an internal review of the incident, said Special Agent Marc Connolly, a Secret Service spokesman.
Charging documents revealed for the first time the father's account of the day and hours leading to the shooting.
Bouley, a uniformed officer for the Secret Service, told police that he had gone to a training session at the Johns Hopkins University on June 7, the day before the shooting.
When he returned to the home in the 6500 block of Huntshire Drive, he put his service weapon, a Sig Sauer Model P229, a .357-caliber semiautomatic pistol, on top of the refrigerator, according to the documents.
Later, he looked for the pistol lock that Secret Service officials say they issue to their personnel, but couldn't find it and figured that his son had left it at a neighbor's house. Because it was late, he didn't call the neighbor, and the gun remained on the refrigerator "unsecured," the documents said.
When his wife left for work the next morning, Bouley and his children - Kenny and Rachel, 5 - were sleeping. Rachel told police that Kenny climbed up cabinet drawers to a countertop, got the gun and shot himself. The shot awakened Bouley, who found Kenny on the floor.
Bouley is scheduled to appear Aug. 28 in Howard County District Court.
The charge leveled against him this week is a low-level misdemeanor - one expert likened it to a traffic ticket that carries a large fine - but a gun-safety advocate said yesterday that such laws are important as a deterrent.
Maryland is one of 18 states that make it illegal to leave loaded weapons where a minor would be able to access them. Although the 1992 law is modeled on the first law (Florida's in 1989), its penalties are less strict than those of other states. In Connecticut and California, the violation is considered a felony.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October 1997 said unintentional shooting deaths among children younger than age 15 decreased by 23 percent in 12 states where such laws had been in effect for at least a year.
Joe Dennison, director of state affairs for the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it is important to enforce such laws to remind adults that they need to act responsibly where weapons are concerned.
"It's a tragedy," he said of the Bouley case. "But we really need to get the message out to people that guns need to be stored safely - away from kids."
Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun
