KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 30-year-old Gladstone man now faces a murder charge in connection with the September death of a 2-year-old boy who police said accidentally shot himself, according to records.
A Clay County grand jury on Tuesday charged Christopher Ellis with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child. He was booked into the Clay County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
The shooting occurred on Sept. 24, 2019, at the Whispering Creek Apartment Homes in the 100 block of Northeast 59th Terrace. At the time, Gladstone police spokesman Capt. Rob Hays said that the 2-year-old boy, who was not identified, found an unsecured gun somewhere in the apartment and accidentally shot himself.
Hays said in September that two adults — the child’s father and a friend — were in the home at the time.
Angela Lee, the child’s grandmother, told 41 Action News that her son had recently started working as an armed security guard and believed he had put the gun out of reach of the child.
“He put it up high, but just not high enough that the baby didn’t get it,” Lee said in September.
