4 indicted in death of Bradley County toddler

photo Deborah Louise Graham
photo Jennifer Haylee Graham
photo Tommie Graham
photo Elizabeth Hayden Graham

A Bradley County, Tenn., grand jury has indicted four people in the accidental shooting death of a toddler in May.

Three-year-old Kydalynn Robinson was playing with her 2-year-old cousin on May 30 when the pair apparently found a .45-caliber handgun and Kydalynn was shot in the head.

Kydalynn lived with her grandparents, mother, aunt and cousin in a house in the Benwood subdivision off Old Parksville Road in Bradley County. Her mother was home when she was shot.

The three other adults who lived in the home were each charged with reckless endangerment - Kydalynn's grandmother, Deborah Louise Graham, 56; her mother, Jennifer Haylee Graham, 23; and her aunt, Elizabeth Hayden Graham, 25.

Her grandfather, Tommie Graham, 57, is a 34-year veteran of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. He is charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.

The THP placed Graham on discretionary leave after the indictment was issued Thursday.

"No decision has been reached regarding the length of the discretionary leave or any internal disciplinary action," Col. Tracy Trott said in a news release.

Kydalynn's death is considered accidental, her wound self-inflicted, Bradley County Sheriff's Office spokesman Bob Gault said, and he isn't sure why Tommie Graham faces the more serious charge of criminally negligent homicide.

All four turned themselves in to the Bradley County Jail on Thursday afternoon and were released on their own recognizance until they are arraigned in Criminal Court, Gault said.

Tenth Judicial District Attorney General Steve Bebb declined to comment on the case Thursday night.

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