Parents charged last year under Michigan’s new firearms safe storage law were sentenced this week in separate cases in metro Detroit — one case in Macomb County, the other in Oakland County.
Theo Nichols, of Warren, the first person in Macomb County charged under the new law, was sentenced to probation, according to online county circuit court records. He pleaded guilty in February after his young son accidentally shot himself in the face with his father’s unlocked and loaded gun last year.
Nichols pleaded guilty to a felony firearms safe storage violation and an added count of fourth-degree child abuse, a misdemeanor. Four other charges, including second-degree child abuse, were dismissed by prosecutors at sentencing Tuesday, according to court records.
Nichols was sentenced to two years of probation and received credit for 244 days served in the county jail on the firearms safe storage violation. He was sentenced to six months of probation on the fourth-degree child abuse charge, with the sentences to run concurrently, according to court records.
His attorney, Noel Erinjeri, a county assistant public defender, had no comment.
More: Eastpointe dad sentenced to probation after son, 3, shoots himself in hand with gun
Last year, Warren police said the boy’s mother, then 33, and Nichols, then 56, were home at the time of the April 19 shooting with a Glock 40-caliber handgun that Nichols bought on the street in Detroit a couple of months prior for personal protection.
Police and fire crews were sent to an apartment in the Cove on 10 apartment complex at Hoover and 10 Mile roads after receiving a 911 call from the mother, who said her child had accidentally shot himself. They found the boy, 8, with a gunshot wound to his face and head area. The boy survived, the county prosecutor’s office stated in a release in May.
Three other children were in the apartment at the time of the shooting — a girl, then age 6, and twins, then 6 months old. At the time, police said, they were all children of Nichols and the mother, and they were not hurt.
At a news conference after the shooting, Warren Police Lt. John Gajewski said it appeared the boy used a chair to get to the gun. Executive Lt. Scott Isaacson said it was stored on top of an upper kitchen cabinet. Gajewski said there were no safes, lockboxes or gun locks found in the residence. Isaacson said one shot was fired.
Nichols had a prior felony drug-related conviction, police said, preventing him from buying a gun legally. They said the gun was reported lost in 2022 out of Westland.
Oakland County parents sentenced after boy shot himself
On Monday, two Oakland County parents were sentenced to probation for a firearms safe storage violation after a 9-year-old boy shot himself in the hand in August, according to a news release Tuesday from the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.
Jacob Gean, 28, and Jessie Gean, 29, both of Madison Heights, were sentenced in Oakland County Circuit Court. Prosecutors indicated Jessie Gean’s son shot himself with Jacob Gean’s gun, which was left unattended in a jacket pocket at their home.
The Geans were sentenced to two years of probation in addition to a few days they each served in the Oakland County Jail. Their other sentencing conditions include not using or possessing any firearm or other deadly weapons; no assaultive or threatening behavior, and performing community service, according to online court records.
The records indicate the Geans pleaded no contest in February.
Messages were left for the Geans’ attorneys, who could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald stated in the release that she hopes the law and cases like this “will encourage people to take a few minutes and confirm their guns are stored safely. Gun violence is a public health crisis and a leading cause of death among children. It only takes 10 seconds to install a cable lock or a few minutes to properly secure a firearm. Those few moments could prevent an accidental injury or death.”
First person charged under new law also in court
The first person in Michigan charged with violating the law — Michael Tolbert, of Flint — also appeared in court Tuesday. His daughter, then 2, was shot in the head on Valentine’s Day 2024 — the day after the law took effect.
Tolbert, 45, is facing nine charges, including first-degree child abuse, in Genesee County Circuit Court. Online court records indicate a final pretrial hearing was held Tuesday and an offer was placed on the record. While a May 7 trial is set, the online court records indicate, there may be a “possible resolution prior to trial.”
The girl, Skye McBride, is “doing so much better,” according to a February update posted in an online fundraiser.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Metro Detroit parents sentenced in separate cases under Michigan’s new gun storage law
Reporting by Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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