SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Authorities have upgraded the charge against a central Florida man who was watching a 6-year-old girl when she was fatally shot.
Sanford police announced in a news release Wednesday that 35-year-old Erik Dominick Williams has been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. Williams was charged with child neglect and unsafe storage of a firearm March 2, a day after A’letha Amanii Marie Burke’s shooting.
An initial investigation showed that the girl was wounded while handling an unsecured gun that accidentally discharged. The release says detectives later found that the girl wasn’t physically capable of firing the handgun. Witnesses told investigators that Williams had been in possession of the gun on multiple occasions, and he was the only adult home at the time of the shooting.
Williams was being held without bond. Jail records didn’t list an attorney.