Father Charged In Dorchester Shooting That Grazed His 7-Year-Old Daughter
BOSTON (CBS) - Prosecutors say the suspect involved in a shooting on Talbot Avenue in Dorchester that injured a little girl is actually the child's father. Jesse Fuller is accused of firing an unlicensed gun that grazed the seven-year old's head with a bullet, but the defense says it was accident.
According to prosecutors it was deliberately fired and ricocheted. "The actual discharge was intentional with the placement of his hand. We do not believe the weapon was pointed at the child by any means," said prosecutor Amanda Cascione.
The defense tells a much different story, of a father who just got his child at the bus stop and a gun accidentally discharging as they walked. "He's very remorseful and spoke openly about the situation with Boston Police," said defense attorney Jessica Edwards. "His daughter is doing well, I spoke with his wife who said she was running around, not injured."
Surveillance captures heartbreaking video of young children with backpacks running into a nearby building for cover with the sound of gunfire. Prosecutors say they have additional video putting the gun right in the father's hand. "It does depict the defendant walking with his hand in the front area of a red sweatshirt. Officers observe what appears to be a firearm being discharged," said Cascione.
Family members now say there was no bullet fragment brushed from the child's head even as prosecutors claim her mother removed a piece of metal. "There was what they called a laceration, a small scratch on the side of the head. Any child could have that from playing," said Edwards.
Fuller has open cases on previous firearms charges including a home invasion and a domestic assault case involving his wife back in May. But the defense says the family is standing by his side in this case. "She wants her husband home with his daughter, her daughter wants to see her father, she's very distraught by the whole case," said Edwards.
Fuller is being held without bail until a dangerousness hearing next week when the defense says it will present their version of what happened.