Mom could face up to six years in prison in accidental shooting death of toddler

Kelly L. Pittman

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 2/29/16. Jimmy Skiles, center, speaks to family members as the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Officers investigate the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy outside the home at 4724 Gates Lane. The boy, whose name has not been released, was taken to a local hospital on Monday, February 29, 2016, where he was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office.

An ambulance sits outside a home in Apison where a three-year-old boy was shot on Monday.

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 2/29/16. Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Adams, strings up crime scene tape as the HCSO investigate the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy outside the home at 4724 Gates Lane. The boy, whose name has not been released, was taken to a local hospital on Monday, February 29, 2016, where he was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office.

A three-year-old boy was shot in Apison, Tenn.

The mother of the 3-year-old boy who accidentally shot and killed himself on Feb. 29 could face between one and six years in prison for her son’s death.

Kelly Pittman, 26, was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide on Monday, one week after her son, Gavin Pittman, shot himself in the face with a .380-caliber pistol.

Investigators say Pittman was talking on her cellphone when she pulled her minivan into the family’s driveway at 4724 Gates Lane in Apison at 9:18 a.m. on Feb. 29. She left three small children in the van and got out so she could continue her conversation, she told investigators with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

She said she heard a “pop” and realized Gavin had shot himself.