The charges against a Stone Mountain couple accused in the death of their 2-year-old nephew have been revised, but they are still accused of felonies, DeKalb County police said Tuesday.
DeKalb police Capt. Stephen Fore said investigators are looking into whether Kamarri Lewis discovered a handgun and the possibility the toddler shot himself while his aunt, 23-year-old Alexia Thomas, was sleeping inside a home in the 700 block of 3rd Street in Stone Mountain. His uncle, 25-year-old Detray Shivers, told investigators he was away from the house at the time of the shooting, which occurred shortly after 10 a.m. Monday.
Thomas was supposed to be watching her nephew while the toddler’s mother was at work. Shivers told police he found the toddler dead when he returned to the home.
“They say they found the child shot,” Fore told The Atlanta Journal Constitution. “The child may have shot himself.”
Initially, it was reported that Thomas and Shivers were charged with cruelty to children in the first degree, which requires intent and could mean five to 20 years in prison. That charge was replaced Tuesday with cruelty to children in the second degree, which calls for “criminal neglect,” not intent. Cruelty to children carries a punishment of one to 10 years in prison.
Both also are charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and felony possession of cocaine with intent to distribute with. And Shivers was charged with tampering with evidence after police found the pistol in a storm drainage area, Fore said.
Both are in the DeKalb County jail.
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