Indiana couple charged for neglect, drugs, after 5-year-old son shoots 1-year-old brother

An Indiana couple was hit with neglect and drug charges after their 16-month-old son was fatally shot by his 5-year-old brother, who also had cocaine in his system at the time.

The charges against Deonta Jermaine Johnson, 27, and Shatia Tiara Welch, 24, were unsealed on Tuesday, the day after they were arrested in LaPorte. They stem from a deadly incident that unfolded inside their home in Lafayette on March 28. Authorities responded around 3 p.m. to their residence in the Romney Meadows apartment complex, where they discovered Isiah Washington dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

Isiah also had marijuana in his system at the time of his death, prosecutors said. His older brother, meanwhile tested positive for cocaine.

Welch, who was not home at the time of the shooting, later told police she owns the gun, but that she usually keeps it locked in a box under her bed. She recalled taking the weapon out over the weekend prior to the shooting, but said she could not remember if she locked the safe when she put it away, according to prosecutors.

Police found the gun on top of a dresser in Johnson and Welch’s bedroom, according to the Journal & Courier. A search of the house also turned up 93 pills of fentanyl, marijuana and paraphernalia, police said. Authorities additionally uncovered marijuana in Johnson’s car as well as a grinder with marijuana residue inside.

Johnson said he was asleep at the time of the shooting, but investigators noted that he has changed his story several times.

He “claimed he woke up on the couch, saw (Welch’s 5-year-old son) on the couch, heard a boom, took the marijuana to the car, went to Victim 1′s bedroom and found Victim 1 dead and called Welch,” according a probable cause affidavit obtained by the newspaper.

Johnson is also facing a count of obstruction of justice for removing marijuana from the apartment before police arrived.

With News Wire Services