Parents of toddler shot dead by a falling gun are sentenced

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 17:55:14 +0000

News footage of Arabella Watts (left) and Jesse Kitson in court (KING).

A Washington couple who pleaded guilty to manslaughter following the accidental shooting death of their 1-year-old daughter were sentenced to prison time.

Jesse Kitson, 34, and Arabella Watts, 26, were charged in the death of their baby daughter, who was killed on Dec. 4, 2021, when an unsecured gun fell off a coffee table and fired. According to court documents obtained by local news outlet HeraldNet, Kitson was walking back and forth from the grill outside to the kitchen while Watts was on the couch inside checking her phone.

At the time, Kitson told police that he had left the gun on a shelf, but Watts said it was on the coffee table. While the exact details of the shooting were unclear, police believed that the baby pulled a coat off the table, causing the loaded gun to fall off and fire a round into the girl, killing her.

According to KING, a local NBC affiliate, Kitson and Watts both pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and Kitson pleaded guilty to unsafe storage of a firearm. Kitson was sentenced to five years and 10 months, plus 18 months of community custody. Watts was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison.

Both parents were initially charged in January 2024 with first-degree manslaughter in a domestic violence context and pleaded not guilty.

Court documents revealed more details about the events of Dec. 4, 2021. Watts had arrived that evening at the home of Kitson with her daughter, who had been two weeks away from her first birthday, and 2-year-old son. Despite Kitson’s claim to police that he put his loaded, holstered gun on a shelf, documents stated that he told police that he put the gun on the coffee table in front of the sofa where Watts sat with the 1-year-old. While Watts was sending Facebook and text messages, Kitson was back and forth while he cooked dinner. Neither parent saw their daughter near the gun and only knew something happened once they heard the gun go off.

Watts called 911, and first responders performed lifesaving procedures on the girl for 10 minutes before declaring her dead at the scene. The medical examiner said the baby died from a “fatal through-and-through gunshot wound of the torso that entered the right hip[.]”

According to the police report, Watts reportedly said, “I knew that this could happen.” Watts also reportedly told police that she didn’t like being near the gun and that it scared her.

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Man allegedly kills sister and niece before falling asleep

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 22:43:29 +0000

Inset: Kendrick Rayvon Fisher (Houston Police Department). Background: The apartment complex where Fisher allegedly murdered his sister and his niece (Google Maps).

A Texas man is behind bars for brutally killing his sister and his toddler niece earlier this week, police in the Lone Star State say.

Kendrick Rayvon Fisher, 29, stands accused of capital murder over the fatal stabbings that took the lives of the 28-year-old and 2-year-old victims in question, according to a press release issued by the Houston Police Department on Saturday.

The incident occurred sometime on Friday at a residence on Richmond Avenue in the west Houston neighborhood of Westchase.

“Officers were flagged down by a citizen who stated an adult female and child were being held hostage within an apartment,” the press release reads. “The citizen was concerned for their safety and told officers a male (suspect Fisher) was inside the apartment.”

The timeline of that alleged hostage situation is unclear. Law enforcement did not suggest officers ever engaged with a hostage-taker during the investigation of the case.

Instead, officers came upon a grim and disturbing scene.

The two female victims were found suffering from multiple stab wounds, and paramedics with the Houston Fire Department pronounced them deceased at the scene, police said.

The defendant was allegedly discovered asleep on a couch.

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Horrific nightmare’: Man indicted for allegedly shooting and killing his pregnant sister and her new husband in barrage of gunfire at family picnic that left his own son wounded

“Upon detaining Fisher, officers observed he had injuries consistent with a physical altercation, as well as blood on his clothing,” the press release goes on. “Fisher was questioned by HPD homicide detectives and, after consulting with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, he was charged with capital murder and booked into the Harris County Jail.”

Details about the slayings are presently scarce.

The criminal complaint in the case is a threadbare recitation of the crime allegedly committed by the defendant and does not contain the law enforcement narrative of the incident.

More Law&Crime coverage: Man recorded killing his sister, her boyfriend then ‘taunting the bodies’ and ‘beating their dog to death with a hammer’ is sentenced

Law enforcement has not floated a motive for the shocking violence as of this writing.

Fisher is being detained on $200,000, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.

In an order setting bond conditions, Fisher was ordered to have no contact with any victims, to abstain entirely from consuming alcohol, to submit to drug testing, and to be subject to GPS monitoring. Those limits, and more, would be imposed in the event the alleged killer can afford pre-trial release.

The state is pushing for the defendant to be jailed pending trial. He is slated to appear in court on Dec. 3.

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Parents of toddler shot dead by a falling gun are sentenced

Man allegedly kills sister and niece before falling asleep