8-year-old accidentally shoots and kills 1-year-old, wounds 2-year-old in Pensacola motel

A man was arrested Sunday after his 8-year-old son accidentally shot and killed a 1-year-old and injured a 2-year-old, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said during a Monday press conference.

Roderick Dwayne Randall, 45, was arrested by Escambia County Sheriff's Office deputies and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, two counts of culpable negligence by storing a loaded firearm within access of a minor and tampering with physical evidence.

According to Simmons, Randall was at the Lion's Motel with his son and his girlfriend, who has twin 2-year-olds and a 1-year-old. Simmons said Randall's gun was stored in a holster in a closet as he left the hotel room.

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"While Roderick was gone and the girlfriend was sleeping, his 8-year-old son finds the gun because he knows where it's hidden," Simmons said. "He pulls the gun from the holster and starts playing with it and fires a round into the 1-year-old toddler."

Simmons said the round went through the toddler, killing her, and hit one of the twin 2-year-olds. The 2-year-old is recovering.

The three toddlers are not related to Randall or his son.

When Randall returned to the hotel, he grabbed the weapon and what deputies believe were drugs and left the scene.

Randall was legally prohibited from owning a gun based on prior felony convictions.

Florida Department of Corrections records indicate Randall was sentenced to five years in prison in 2001 for charges related to cocaine sales and possession. 

Corrections department records show another pair of sentences in 2005 — a one-year sentence for resisting arrest without violence and a 40-month sentence for fleeing and eluding law enforcement.

In the current case, he was booked into Escambia County Jail on Sunday morning and released on $41,000 bond later the same day, according to jail records.