The family of the 3-year-old boy who accidentally shot and killed himself last Monday has been previously involved with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, a spokesman confirmed today.
Kelly Pittman, 26, is charged with criminally negligent homicide in her son’s Feb. 29 death.
She left her son, Gavin Pittman, and two other children alone in the family’s minivan after she pulled into her driveway at 4724 Gates Lane in Apison, according to investigators from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
She was talking on her cellphone when she pulled into the driveway and was continuing her conversation outside the van when she heard a pop.
Gavin had unbuckled his carseat and climbed to the front of the van, where he opened the glovebox, found a .380 caliber pistol and shot himself in the head at about 9:20 a.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Erlanger Children’s Hospital.
Pittman was booked into the Hamilton County Jail on Monday, under the alias of Kelly Leigh-Anne Michaels. She is being held under a $500,000 bond.
A three-year-old boy was shot in Apison, Tenn. Rob Johnson, spokesman for the Department of Children’s Services, said today that the family has been involved with DCS during the last three years.
He said the agency is investigating and that the three other children are safe and staying with a friend who has been vetted by DCS.
The majority of children who die in Tennessee among allegations of neglect or abuse have a previous history with DCS, records show.
An internal DCS review of 133 child death cases in 2014 revealed that 117 children – 88 percent – had history with DCS.
None of the toddlers who have been killed in the city of Chattanooga during the last five years were shot to death, according to The Toll, a Times Free Press database of homicides. Since 2011, three children ages four and younger have been killed within the city limits.
In 2014, Tatiana Emerson, 3, and Dakota Arndt, 3, were beaten to death. Both toddlers had previously been visited by DCS.
DCS workers last checked on Tatiana’s family and concluded all was well a month before Tatiana died on Aug. 27, 2014. Two days after she died, Dakota also died from chronic abuse – and DCS workers also had checked on him before his death.
Gavin’s family declined to speak with the Times Free Press.