MINNEAPOLIS— A heartbroken mother plays a short video of her son saying “hi” before telling her he loves her.
These three words are everything Charlotte Williams wished she could hear again from her baby, 3-year-old Jajuan Robinson, better known as Junior.
On Monday, Assistant Police Chief Christopher Gaiters said the department received a 911 call around 12:45 p.m. saying the boy had been shot.
“I left my baby with someone I thought I could trust,” Williams said, holding back tears. “Someone he needed to be safe with.”
Williams said she was at work and her son was home with a babysitter when he saw an article on Facebook about a boy who had been shot at her apartment complex.
Then she got a call from her babysitter telling her that Junior shot himself after getting his hands on a gun. He was rushed to hospital where he died.
“How did he even get his hands on a gun to shoot himself,” Williams wondered. “It shouldn’t have been there. ‘I don’t allow guns in my household.’
Williams said she doesn’t own a gun and still can’t understand why the babysitter would be left outside, loaded and unlocked.
“Everyone keeps telling me not to blame yourself, but I blame myself because I should have called off work and been with him,” Williams said.
Minneapolis police say this is an active and ongoing case. Investigators are working hard to determine the exact sequence of events that led to this shooting.
What is clear to this family is that an adult man was in the house at the time.
“He (the babysitter) loved Junior, that was his everything, but we just can’t ignore the fact that he was negligent,” said Meshia Woods, Junior’s aunt. “There will be no justice if we let him go so easily.”
For now… It’s photos and memories of the good times that help them navigate this nightmare.
Despite the pain, this family wants people to know that safely storing guns can save lives.
You can obtain free gun locks from several police stations, click here for a list from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
