A Gary man avoided prison Wednesday after he left a loaded gun out, then went to sleep. His cousin’s son, 5, found it and fatally shot himself in the head.
Jacorri Danzy, 34, pleaded guilty last month to reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony.
Citing a lack of criminal history, no intent to hurt the child, and Danzy’s ill mother, Judge Samuel Cappas sentenced Danzy to one year in Lake County Community Corrections and one year on probation.
Edan Johnson, 5, of Chicago, was pronounced dead Aug. 30, 2023 at Methodist Hospitals Northlake in Gary.
Danzy stayed at his aunt’s home in Gary, who was the boy’s grandmother.
After the hearing, the child’s mother, Teresa Oliver, said she was put in a difficult position, because Danzy was a relative. On one hand, she didn’t wish him harm. He was devastated by what happened. But on the other hand, she wanted some sort of punishment for her son’s death.
“I’m a little angry,” she said, saying Danzy shouldn’t have gotten a “slap on the wrist.”
Earlier on the stand, Oliver said it was “not easy” to speak. She lost Edan’s twin brother during her pregnancy. The boy was her “only son.” He was “very intelligent” and “hilarious.”
“I don’t hate you, I love you,” she told Danzy, saying she forgave him when they ran into each other.
Danzy cried out that he loved her, too.
“You’re a good boy, you always have been,” she said. “I understand this was a mistake.”
After the shooting, the boy’s older sister ran down stairs and found him.
“I wish there was something I could have done to change the trajectory of what happened,” Oliver said.
She asked Danzy directly if anything “could have happened differently.”
Defense lawyer James Dillon let him answer.
I went to sleep and was awoken by a gunshot, Danzy said. I did everything I could to save the boy.
After a brief back-and-forth conversation, Oliver told Cappas she wanted a maximum sentence — three years in prison under the plea.
Alisha Green, Danzy’s mother, told the court she had been recently hospitalized. She appeared with an oxygen tank. Her son was her primary caregiver, she said.
Deputy Prosecutor Milana Petersen said Danzy was “reckless” for leaving the gun out and traumatizing the sister. She asked for three years in prison.
Dillon said it was a “tragedy.” He asked for his client to avoid prison, saying he had no criminal history and his kids and mother would suffer if he was in prison.
In the audience, Oliver shook her head and appeared to lift her arms briefly in disbelief.
Danzy told the court it was the “worst day of my life.”
That morning, he was “tired of life,” grieving his brother and working 85 hours per week.
His aunt and uncle were on a cruise and he didn’t think anyone else was home.
“That day, I wasn’t responsible for myself,” he said. “I want everyone to know I’m sorry for what happened.”
He had two kids the same age, Danzy said. The boy was “intelligent” and “great.”
Cappas said it was unusual, since a reckless homicide case was typically a “bad” person doing bad things. In this case, it was a “good person” being “reckless” with a gun.
After the hearing, Oliver said her son loved Spiderman, other Marvel characters like Black Panther, and monster trucks. He was “just a joy” who “loved to laugh.” His two older sisters adored him.
Green, Danzy’s mother, had been in touch and showed her compassion, she said.
She thanked Petersen, saying she “did her job” and “fought for me.”
Oliver believed the sentence was due to the setting in Indiana; If it was in a Chicago courtroom, Danzy would have served time in prison, she said.
Gary Police responded at 9 a.m. Aug. 30, 2023 to the 2400 block of Fillmore Street.
Danzy said he arrived at the house at 6 a.m. as the boy’s grandmother gave him a key. She usually watched the boy, but was away on a cruise that week. The boy’s mother was working an overnight shift at the hospital.
Danzy said he thought no one was home.
He put his Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun on the living room floor and fell asleep on a sofa. He woke up at some point, briefly spoke to his niece, 17, then went back to sleep.
He woke up around 8 a.m. to a “loud boom.” Danzy saw the boy “slumped over” and realized he shot himself with the gun. The niece told police that she and the boy woke up that morning, then went downstairs. The child was watching cartoons on TV in the living room.
She saw Edan “playing with something on the ground,” then realized it was a gun. She told him not to touch it, pushed it under the sofa, then went upstairs, before she heard a gunshot, according to the affidavit.
The boy’s mother told police that normally the grandmother watched the boy while she was at work. That morning, she usually got off around 7:15 a.m., but had to stay longer for training.
Danzy told police he forgot that he put the gun on the floor. It had 10 rounds and no safety. The grandmother told investigators she banned him from having a gun in her house.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
mcolias@post-trib.com
