Trayshawn Smith (Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office); pictured: the outside of the Indiana apartment where the shooting occurred (WTHR screengrab)
A 3-year-old picked up a gun at an apartment in Indiana last week and opened fire, wounding both the child’s mother and her friend — the latter of whom happened to be wanted in connection with a murder case in neighboring Illinois.
Authorities in Lafayette, Indiana, say that the shooting took place on May 18, last Thursday night, at the Romney Meadows apartment complex and left Trayshawn Malik Smith, 23, and Jalynn Artis, 21, with non-life-threatening injuries.
Both Smith and Artis went to Franciscan Health Lafayette East Hospital to be treated for those injuries, which apparently were the result of a single gunshot. The Lafayette Police Department began its investigation and quickly found that Smith was wanted in connection with a Cook County, Illinois, murder case.
Lafayette, Indiana, is approximately two hours of driving away from Cook County, Illinois.
Notably, neither Smith nor Artis lived at the residence where the shooting took place, according to WTHR, who spoke with the godmother of the boy who fired the gun. The woman reportedly said that Smith and Artis were visiting; Smith is reportedly a Lafayette resident and Artis lives in Gary. As of Monday morning, there have been no charges issued in the apartment shooting, but Lafayette cops are said to be in contact with the Markham Police Department about Smith’s arrest. The report also noted that the state Child Services agency was contacted about the shooting.
Tippecanoe County jail records in Indiana reviewed by Law&Crime show that Smith was booked nine minutes before midnight on May 18, just hours after the shooting (Note: the spelling of the defendant’s name in this story is as it appeared in Tippecanoe jail records, but other stories have the spellings Treyshawn and Trayshaun).
As recently as March 28, a different young child — a 5-year-old — at the Romney Meadows apartment complex reportedly managed to access an unsecured gun and opened fire, killing his 1-year-old brother.
Over the years, there have been other examples of children accessing unsecured firearms, causing the entirely preventable deaths or woundings of mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. Such tragic incidents have even happened during Zoom calls.