Boy kills brother with gun found in pickup

Father accidentally left pistol in console

By Mike Clary, Sun Sentinel
6:10 p.m. EST, February 28, 2010

DEERFIELD BEACH - Minutes after Randy Reddick Jr. sent his two young sons to his truck to get the coat and hat he left on the front seat, one of the brothers ran back into the house screaming.

"I shot my brother! I shot my brother!" the 10-year-old cried Saturday afternoon. "I didn't mean to do it."

Reddick, 31, said he raced down the stairs from his third-floor apartment to find his oldest son and namesake on the ground next to the black Dodge pickup.

Randy Reddick III, 11, had the coat in his hand. Beside him was the wide-brim hat, full of blood, as if he had been wearing it, his father said.

In the truck was a 40-caliber Glock pistol that Reddick had inadvertently left in the vehicle's console. The boy had been shot in the face.

"I knelt down to see if there was life. There wasn't," Reddick said Sunday, standing outside his apartment in the 700 block of Northeast 41st Street. He stared teary-eyed at his truck and his child's bloodstain in the parking space beside it.

"So I kissed him, covered him up with the coat, and began to pray."

Keyla Concepcion, a spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff's Office, said the shooting appears accidental. The case will be referred to prosecutors for review, she said.

Reddick has a concealed weapon permit for the gun, police said.

Usually, Reddick said, he carries the weapon in a holster under his shirt. But he had taken the holster and gun off and put it into the truck console when he stopped at the Oakland Park post office to pick up his mail. Firearms are prohibited on federal property.

For the boys, both students at Tedder Elementary School in Pompano Beach, the day began as usual, Reddick said. Randy, a fifth-grader, and his brother, in third grade, did morning chores, then played with video games and their remote-controlled cars.

"They were close. They were brothers," Reddick said.

The Sun Sentinel is not naming the younger brother because of his age.

Reddick then marched with his Freemasons fraternity in the annual Sistrunk Historical Festival in Fort Lauderdale. The hat and coat he left in the truck were part of his parade costume.

At home, he left the gun in the unlocked console. And there it stayed until the boys found it.

Deerfield Beach Fire-Rescue pronounced the boy dead at the scene around 3:30 p.m.

Reddick said he heard news reports late Saturday that suggested he was careless with the weapon.

"I'm far from careless," he said. "It was an accident."

A mental health technician at Imperial Point Medical Center, Reddick said he would seek counseling for his son if necessary. "I don't think he realizes yet what went on," said Reddick.

Reddick identified the boys' mother as Latavia Green, of Fort Lauderdale. She could not be reached Sunday.

Other survivors include a sister, Desiree, 14, and Reddick's girlfriend Carol Smith, who has helped raise the children.

The incident marks the second fatal accidental shooting in Broward County in a week. On Monday in Pompano Beach, Tiffany Littlepage, 21, was fatally wounded by a gunshot fired by a friend sitting in the back seat of the car she was driving, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Carlos Martin, 26, of Plantation, was charged with manslaughter.

From: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/deerfield/fl-deerfield-shooting-folo-20100228,0,328840.story