2-Year-Old Finds Uncle’s Gun In Backpack, Accidentally Shoots Himself In The Head

The Waco Police Department has charged Derrick Pipkins, 21, with tampering with physical evidence after his two-year-old nephew found a gun in a backpack and accidentally shot himself in the head.

Police said the shooting appeared to be accidental. A Waco Police spokeswoman confirmed Pipkins is the victim’s uncle.

Just after 6 p.m. on Wednesday September 22, police officers were dispatched to the University Club Apartments located at 1725 N Martin Luther King Boulevard to investigate a possible shooting.

Investigators discovered the boy found a firearm in a backpack belonging to his young uncle. Paramedics immediately transported the boy to Baylor Scott and White Hillcrest Hospital where he later died.

While at the scene, investigators learned the boy found a firearm in a backpack belonging to his 21-year-old uncle.

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Police have reason to believe that he may have accidentally shot himself with the firearm after finding it.

After the shooting, the owner of the firearm, Pipkins, took the weapon and fled the scene, police said. The man later returned to the scene and was taken into custody

Earlier this summer, a 3-year-old child who accidentally shot himself with his father’s gun unknowingly led prosecutors to arrest the suspect wanted in a recent shooting in Houston, Texas.

A court hearing revealed that Nicholas Thomas, 23, the man accused of murdering Michael Vasquez in the parking lot of Dave and Busters, appeared in front of a judge for the first time in June.

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Prosecutors stated how they were able to tie Thomas to the murder of Vasquez as the gun used in that shooting was the same gun used in an accidental shooting involving the suspect’s son.

Vasquez was leaving the arcade with his daughter and was allegedly approached by Thomas who put Vasquez in a chokehold, pointed a gun to his head and demanded his jewelry on April 4. Police said Thomas shot Vasquez in front of his daughter before getting away. 

Vasquez was taken to a nearby hospital where he died. Then just four days later, on April 8, Thomas’s son accidentally shot himself with his father’s gun. 

Thomas was charged with endangering a child in this case and released on a $1,000 bond. In addition, investigators were able to match the shell casings found at the accidental shooting with the shell casing found at the deadly robbery scene outside Dave and Busters. This ultimately led prosecutors to link the murder with Thomas.