Charges: Man Accidentally Shot Son In Brooklyn Center
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (WCCO) – A 58-year-old Brooklyn Park man is accused of shooting his son while the two were drinking at a table in their residence, according to charges filed Thursday in Hennepin County Court.
Howard Glenn Bascomb was charged with second-degree manslaughter in connection with the incident.
According to a criminal complaint, Brooklyn Center Police responded to a report of a shooting at about 3:20 a.m. Tuesday at a residence on the 6800 block of York Place North. The caller, a woman at the residence, said she was woken up by a gun shot. She told police she then saw her boyfriend and his father, later identified as Howard Bascomb, had been sitting at a table drinking and playing with a handgun that had discharged.
When authorities arrived, they found that the victim, later identified as 23-year-old Alexander Aaron Bascomb, had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was slumped over in a chair. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Howard Bascomb told police the gun was his and that he and his son had been drinking late the night before and early that morning. He said at some point they decided to field strip the gun and put it pack together. When they were attempting to put it back together, the safety was off and Glenn Bascomb's finger was on the trigger when it discharged, striking his son.
Howard Bascomb told police that he wasn't paying attention to the safety on the gun and the shooting was his fault. If convicted, Howard Bascomb faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
