Mom faces manslaughter charge in shooting death of toddler at gas station

LANSING — The mother of a 2-year-old boy who died from a gunshot wound following an incident at a south Lansing gas station last month has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the tragedy.

Emma Jane Huver, 26, of Lansing, was grossly negligent by either failing to protect her son from unsupervised access to a loaded weapon or by discharging a gun in close proximity to the unrestrained child while in a vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed on Nov. 16.

Huver was arraigned Monday in 54A District court on seven felony counts, including involuntary manslaughter, second-degree child abuse and various weapons charges, court records indicate. A judge set a $75,000 cash bond for her.

She also was arraigned in 55th District Court on a charge of tampering with an electronic monitoring device, court records show. Huver was on probation in another case when the incident at the gas station happened, and she left the state afterward, the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office said. She was extradited to Michigan from Arizona, officials said.

No attorney was listed for Huver in court records.

She is one of two adults charged in connection with the Oct. 24 incident.

Avis Damone Coward was charged last week in federal court with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to federal court records, Coward was in a vehicle with the child and the child's mother around 3 p.m. when they pulled into a gas station in the 3000 block of Dunckel Road in Lansing. He got out of the front passenger seat and walked away from the vehicle.

Federal prosecutors included images that appear to be from the gas station's surveillance cameras in their filing that show a few minutes later, a small bullet hole appeared in a vehicle window. A minute later, the child's mother, who is not identified in the court records, got out of the vehicle holding the child, who had blood on his face, according to court records.

When the woman got out of the car, a gun fell onto the ground.

The mother handed the child to Coward, who gave him to someone else who "attempted to control bleeding until medical personnel arrived," according to court records.

As Coward went to close a vehicle door, he bent over to pick up the gun and put it back into the vehicle, officials allege. He also broke the front passenger window, according to court records, which is the one that had the bullet hole.

He then got into the vehicle and drove away, according to court records.

Huver told police she stayed in the vehicle with the toddler after Coward left to go in the store, a Lansing police detective testified in a 54A District Court affidavit. She said the boy unbuckled himself from his child seat in the back seat and crawled into the front seat, the detective said. Huver said she was playing on her phone when she heard what she described as an "explosion," according to the affidavit.

The woman admitted owning a firearm but told police the gun the boy shot himself with belonged to Coward, the detective testified. Police learned there were two firearms in the vehicle, which were later removed and hidden in the backyard of a residence by Coward, according to the affidavit.

The gun involved in the death of the boy was dismantled and sold in pieces, it said.

Besides involuntary manslaughter and second-degree child abuse, Huver is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, being a felon in possession of a firearm and felony firearm possession. She is charged as a fourth-time habitual offender, which could boost the maximum penalties if she is convicted.

Court records indicate Huver has drug convictions in Eaton and Ingham counties.

A hearing to determine whether Huver should stand trial on the charges is set for Dec. 15.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Emma Jane Huver faces manslaughter charged in shooting death of child