Two-Year-Old Shoots & Kills Dad. Mom Charged With Manslaughter

A two-year-old boy discovered a loaded gun in his Florida home and shot his father in the back on May 26. The father, Reggie Mabry, 26, died from the accidental shooting.

Now, the young boy’s mother, Marie Ayala, 28, has been charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of her husband. Ayala was also charged with culpable negligence and possession of a firearm.

Both Ayala and her deceased husband are convicted felons and were not allowed to own guns. The parents were also on probation for narcotics and child neglect at the time of the shooting.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina said the shooting death was a result of carelessness and more on the part of his parents. He did not say how the two-year-old found the loaded gun.

“The gun was not properly stored,” Sheriff Mina said. “In fact, it was easily accessible even to a 2-year-old, and the result is a tragedy.”

Orlando authorities went to the scene of the shooting after a report of gunfire was called in, and at first, believed the victim had died by suicide. But the toddler’s mother, Ayala, told them her son had fired the gun and killed her husband.

The police report states Ayala told authorities on the scene she was still in bed when she heard a loud “pop” and discovered her husband on the floor, bleeding. Ayala also said she tried to save him, doing compressions on his chest. She also said she removed the bullets from the gun.

The arrest report states a five-year-old child, a sibling to the two-year-old boy, told his mother that the toddler “shot papi.”

Gun safety is at the forefront of Americans’ concerns once again, after the mass shooting of 21 victims, including 19 young children, in Uvalde, Texas, a few weeks ago. Now, authorities are trying to piece together why the convicted felon-couple had a loaded firearm in their room accessible to young children; why their gun was loaded; why their gun did not have any security features such as locks or scans, and if there is any gun manufacturer liability.

The police report said Ayala changed her replies as to where the guns were stored, first claiming it was in a bag on the floor and later in a compartment and even later in a box in one of their closets or in a broken safe.

The police report states “her answers changed frequently” and that she could not tell them how a loaded gun could be found and used by a two-year-old.

“She could not explain how the gun fell out of the bag, with a high capacity magazine inserted in it, all while being clipped and zipped,” the police report says.

Eventually, the mother told authorities that “any child in the room could have figured out how to get the gun out of the bag.”

In 2020, there were 369 accidental shootings by children in the US. Of these shootings, 142 resulted in death.

It is not legal for convicted felons to possess firearms. Federal law prohibits felons from possessing firearms, with a maximum sentence for a felon in possession of a firearm of ten years. However, the sentence can be increased to a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence if a felon has three or more convictions for specific drug trafficking crimes and/or violent offenses.

However, laws prohibiting convicted felons are not widely considered effective, since buying guns illegally is a booming business. According to former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agent Jay Wachtel, "Stolen guns account for only about 10% to 15% of guns used in crimes.”

Published reports state the illegal gun trade accounts for about $1 billion in sales.

Wachtel also states that convicted felons and other criminals purchase guns using an illegal “straw purchase,” which is often done when one person legally buys a gun in a store with his own identification, after another person selects the firearm, and later receives it from the purchaser.

This report states that "over-the-counter purchases are not the only means by which guns reach the illegal market from FFLs [Federal Firearms Licensees]" and that “23,775 guns have been reported lost, missing or stolen from FFLs since September 13, 1994.”

The U.S. Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy reports that about 200,000 illegal firearms cross the border annually between Mexico and the U.S.

Currently, federal law mandates all firearms manufacturers, importers, and dealers to make gun locks available at the point of sale for all gun purchases. There is no law requiring that purchasers buy or use this device.

Ms. Ayala faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter. Her two-year-old, who is now also a victim of gun violence, faces a lifetime of knowing he killed his father.