MI Man Becomes 1st Charged Under New Gun Storage Law After Girl, 2, Shoots Herself

FLINT, MI — A Flint man, whose 2-year-old daughter shot herself, was the first person charged with violating Michigan's new safe storage of firearms law, Genesee County prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The 2-year-old girl shot herself in the face with a handgun in a home in the 600 block of Cloverlawn Drive in Flint on Valentine's Day, prosecutors said.

The girl's father took her to a nearby hospital, where she remains in critical condition, prosecutors said.

Michael Tolbert, 44, was charged with first-degree child abuse, a felony violation of Michigan's gun storage law, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and lying to a police officer in a violent crime investigation.

Tolbert also faces several charges for possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony.

If convicted, he faces up to life in prison on the first-degree child abuse charge.

Tolbert is the first person charged with violating Michigan's new safe storage of firearms law, which went into effect a day before the shooting.

Prosecutors said investigators found two unsecured and loaded guns in the bedroom of Tolbert's home: a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver. Additionally, there were no gun locks or safes found in the bedroom, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the revolver was the gun used in the shooting. The bullet entered the girl's right eye and exited through her skull, prosecutors said.

A GoFundMe page was created to help with the 2-year-old's recovery. As of Wednesday morning, the page raised more than $2,600.

"She is fighting so very hard for her life," said LaDorothy Griggs, who identified herself as the girl's aunt on the page. "She is her mom’s only child and as you can imagine the family is struggling to process this as our world has been thrown into a whirlwind."

Under Michigan's new safety storage laws, a gun owner must lock away their firearms if there is a minor in the house. If a child gets ahold of a firearm that wasn't properly secured and uses the gun, the owner can face multiple penalties, including:

• A misdemeanor with a maximum 93-day jail sentence and $500 fine if a child accesses a gun and either possesses or displays it in a public place, or possesses or displays it in front of another person in a “careless, reckless or threatening” way.
• A felony with a maximum five-year prison sentence and $5,000 fine if a child fires the gun and injures themselves or someone else.
• A felony with up to 10 years in prison and up to $7,500 fine if a child seriously injures themselves or someone else.
• A felony with up to 15 years in prison and up to $10,000 fine if the child kills themselves or someone else.