6 months later: DA to decide if gun owner will face charges in toddler’s death

By Kimberly King

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    HENDERSON COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — After months of questioning, News 13’s investigative team has confirmed Andrew Murray, District Attorney for Henderson, Transylvania and Polk counties, will begin reviewing this week whether an adult should face criminal charges in the death of a toddler who reportedly shot herself with an unsecured gun on Christmas Day 2021.

District Attorney meeting with SBI and Henderson County investigators Three-year-old Aylee Gordon died at Mission Hospital on Dec. 28, 2021, just days after picking up a 9-millimeter pistol that was reportedly left in her father’s pickup truck in the Edneyville community. Her father is retired Henderson County Sheriff’s Captain Tim Gordon who served with the department 28 years and retired in 2016. Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin told News 13 in December that the gun fired was not a Henderson County service weapon.

District Attorney Murray returned News 13’s request for comment on June 24, 2022 and answered how the investigation was done due to the fact Gordon was Aylee’s father.

“The sheriff’s department initially was doing the investigation, and was doing everything,” said Murray. “Then when it was determined that obviously, I think, there was a retired sheriff’s deputy, I haven’t seen the report, but my recollection is a retired sheriff’s deputy was involved, then that’s when they called in SBI.”

Murray then further explained the sheriff’s office detective’s process. “They [Henderson County Sheriff’s Office] had their part to finish up what they had done, but had SBI in critical parts, especially when it pertains to the sheriff’s deputy,” he said. “I’m told that I’m getting close to getting both sides, that they’ve been coordinating, and that I will get both sides here soon, so it should be in my lap by next week.” The district attorney could have that information this week, as his comments to News 13 were left in a voicemail on June 24.

News 13 has obtained the original incident report in Aylee’s case that shows the sheriff’s office investigators stated from the start that her gunshot wound was an accident.

Last week, a spokesperson for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) confirmed the department had sent their portion of the Gordon investigation to DA Murray. Henderson County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Public Information Officer Johnny Duncan confirmed to News 13 that the sheriff’s office worked the investigative scene where Aylee reportedly shot herself and processed that evidence. Neither agency has provided specific facts about how Aylee got into the truck nor has either agency released who owned the gun. The only information released since Aylee died has been her father’s 911 call.

The 911 call Six months after Aylee’s tragic death, investigators with the SBI and HCSO have withheld the identity of who owned the gun and allegedly put it in Aylee’s father’s truck Christmas Day. HCSO redacted large sections of the 911 call when it was released in December. This is standard protocol along with altering Gordon’s voice. A 911 call by law is a public record.

During the call her father, Tim Gordon, told the dispatcher what had happened outside his house on rural Spicer Cove Road.

“She picked up a pistol and shot herself in the head by accident, we didn’t know,” Gordon said as his voice broke with emotion. The call came in just after 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 25, 2021. “We had a visitor, visiting for Christmas, and he left a gun in the car, and I didn’t know it.” Gordon explained to the dispatcher the loaded gun was left in his Dodge Dakota Truck parked outside his house. He said they had driven the truck with their young daughter down their gravel drive so she could ride her bicycle that day.

“She had a bike wreck and peed her pants and so my wife was going to take her back to the house to change clothes, and she climbed in the truck and there was a gun there that somebody had left.”

Gordon told the dispatcher the gun was a 9-millimeter but much of the call was redacted so no information indicated who owned the gun.

Unsecured guns and criminal charges Deaths of children from unsecured guns spiked during the pandemic with more children and parents at home. Some prosecutors choose to file criminal charges for adults who’ve left guns out, but others don’t. News 13 spoke with Missouri prosecutor Jean Peters Baker who in 2016 charged a father with murder for leaving his gun in his bed where his toddler son accessed it, shot himself and died.

“Of course, we have a role,” said Baker when it comes to advocating for child victims in adult unsecured gun cases. “This is about responsible gun ownership. The purpose of a gun is to be lethal. That is how they’re designed and what they are made for so they should never ever, ever, ever be in the hands or within reach of a little one.”

Baker said she doesn’t charge in every case but for her, the cases of children dying because of adults’ carelessness in storing guns is an important issue to send a message that adults must be held accountable.

“When a kid dies and especially in a way that’s so easily preventable it’s just so easy to prevent this type of death, there is a role for the prosecutor absolutely,” said Baker. “When a kid dies in my jurisdiction, if I’m not at the scene, another prosecutor is at the scene. I don’t always charge because I don’t always think it’s appropriate under the facts and circumstances that I have.”

News 13’s investigative team went to Raleigh to interview Second Amendment gun expert and law professor Greg Wallace with Campbell School of Law. Wallace has read reports about Aylee Gordon’s case and knows Gordon’s father said the gun left in his truck was a 9-millimeter.

“A 9-millimeter is probably the most common caliber used by law enforcement officers,” said Wallace, who added 9-millimeteres are also the most common caliber gun owned by civilians as well. But after six months, he said he feels information needs to come out, particularly since Aylee was the daughter of a former sheriff’s captain.

“Who does the gun belong to?” he questioned. When asked if he thinks the public has a right to know, he responded, “I think so.” After six months without further information released, Wallace said questions by community members are going to continue.

“People are going to start thinking, well something fishy’s going on here, because they’re not telling us anything about this.”

In a case involving a retired officer, he said it’s time law enforcement release the facts.

“It’s probably better that information comes out sooner rather than later.”

Wallace said it’s easy to confirm who owned the gun.

“It has a serial number on it. The police can perform a trace.”

Neither HCSO nor the SBI have publicly confirmed who owned the gun. HCSO’s initial information to the press did not disclose that former Captain Tim Gordon was Aylee Gordon’s father. The sheriff’s office initially identified Tim Gordon only as “the caller.” A news release said a three-year-old child gained access to a firearm and had accidentally been shot.

Two days after the incident, Sheriff Lowell Griffin confirmed Gordon’s identity only after a viewer messaged News 13 asking why that fact hadn’t been released to the public. The department has maintained for months the case was being handled by the SBI for transparency purposes. News 13 asked the SBI in repeated emails if they were the lead in the case.

Angie Grube, spokeswoman for the SBI, told News 13 that HCSO asked the SBI to “conduct a limited number of interviews” and “assist the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department with their investigation.” No information has been released on how Henderson County investigators processed Gordon’s truck for ballistic evidence to verify the little girl shot herself in his truck. Gordon on the 911 call confirmed he drove the truck from his home after his daughter shot herself, hoping to save his daughter’s life. On the call he described how his wife, Onya Gordon, was holding Aylee in the back seat as they rushed to meet emergency responders. As for the length of time the case has taken, prosecutors tell News 13 that SBI investigations often take up to six months, as it has in this case. However, News 13 has found other unsecured gun investigations at the local level move much faster.

Some local Investigations have information released faster Mitchell County Sheriff Donald Street said he feels adults must be held accountable for leaving loaded guns anywhere a child could access them.

“I feel in my mind the best thing to do is to charge,” said Street. He said he supported Mitchell County District Attorney Seth Banks filing charges against a step-father in January for leaving his loaded gun on a bedside nightstand. Street said the man’s two-year-old stepson shot himself in the leg.

“I feel even though this was an accident, they’ve got to answer for what they’ve done.”

In February 2022, Asheville police charged a father three weeks after court documents showed his five-year-old son shot himself in their east Asheville home. Back in Henderson County, the death of two-year-old Abagail Newman in 2015 had then District Attorney Greg Newman in consult with investigators, charging Abagail’s babysitter and her husband within in two days for leaving out an unsecured gun.

“Common sense tells us that a gun’s a deadly weapon,” said Sheriff Street when asked about unsecured gun cases. “We’ve got to store it in a way that’s going to be safe.”

Charges can never bring back a child, but when the tiniest finger somehow lands on a trigger, advocates say holding adults accountable serves as an important warning to others not to make the same mistake. For Jean Peters Baker, the tragedy is that each child’s death didn’t have to happen.

“The only thing you have to do is put a safety lock on that gun, put that gun in a safe, put that gun in a safe place that a child cannot get. Such a simple simple solution to what on the other end is such horrific harm.”

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