PENSACOLA, Fla. — An 8-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed a 1-year-old girl and injured a 2-year-old girl at a Florida motel on Sunday, authorities said.
The boy's father, identified as 45-year-old Roderick Randall, left the gun holstered in his Pensacola motel room closet. After he left the room, his son found it and fired a round that passed through and killed the baby and struck the toddler, said Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons during a news conference Monday.
Randall's girlfriend was sleeping at the time of the shooting. The children who were shot belonged to her, the sheriff said.
The boy's father returned to the room, took the gun and what investigators believe were drugs, left the room again and later returned, Simmons said.
The toddler who was injured is expected to recover. Another toddler was in the room but was not hurt.
Randall has "129 pages of criminal acts," Simmons said authorities discovered when they began looking into his background. He also has 28 previous felony charges and 14 previous felony convictions.
The 45-year-old father is charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of culpable negligence by storing a firearm within easy of a minor resulting in injuries, tampering with evidence and failure to store a firearm in a required manner.
He was arrested and later released on $41,000 bond.
10 Tampa Bay's Jordan Highsmith contributed to this story.
