Child neglect charges filed in accidental shooting case
BY KENDRICK MARSHALL World Staff Writer
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Child neglect charges were filed against three Tulsans after a 3-year-old was accidentally shot while his parents were away from home last month.
Darren Craig Wolfe, 45, Cynthia Louise Abel, 44, and Christopher Wayne Abel, 24, were charged Friday with child neglect, according to Tulsa County District court filings.
They were not in custody as of Saturday.
Wolfe was also charged with possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction, court documents indicate.
Prosecutors allege on Oct. 12 the 3-year-old boy was with his grandmother's boyfriend at a home in the 4100 block of East First Street when he was shot in the lower leg, police said.
Wolfe, who authorities said was responsible for the care of the boy, had recently purchased a .22-caliber revolver at a flea market and did not think it was functional, police said.
Police believed at the time the cause of the shooting was the result of the gun being mishandled.
The boy was transported to St. Francis Hospital following the shooting, where he underwent surgery, police said.
