Boy, 4, Killed Playing With Gun

A 4-year-old boy playing with a loaded gun shot and killed himself Tuesday after his mother tried to coax the weapon from him, Los Angeles police said.

The boy, identified as Jeauxneille Jeileouxn Jones, had apparently picked up and started playing with a small-caliber pistol belonging to his mother’s boyfriend in the living room of their home on West 37th Place, Detective Richard Taft said. The boy then ran to his mother’s bedroom to show the weapon to her.

The mother, Linda Givhan, told the boy, who was standing a few feet away, to “be still and put the gun down,” Taft said. Instead, Jeauxneille turned and ran. As he scurried away, the gun went off, the bullet striking the boy in the chest.

“It happened so quick, there was very little she (the mother) could do, if anything, at that point,” Taft said. “It doesn’t take a lot to pull the trigger on a gun like that.”

Jeauxneille was taken to Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, where he was pronounced dead at 10 a.m., about half an hour after the shooting.

The incident remained under investigation Tuesday night.

Taft, of the police Juvenile Division, said there was “some negligence” in leaving the gun where the boy could reach it.

No charges have been filed, but detectives said the case will be reviewed by the district attorney’s office.

Jeauxneille’s uncle, Dominic Givhan, said the boy’s 21-year-old mother is a student at a local vocational school where she is studying to become a fashion designer. He said the gun belonged to the boyfriend, whose name was not released.

“That’s my only little nephew,” Givhan said. “He was my pal. This weekend I was going to take him to get some tennis shoes. He was waiting for me to take him to Disneyland.”