7-year-old accused of shooting Hollygrove 5-year-old with father’s gun, NOPD says

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A 5-year-old Hollygrove child shot last week was wounded by a 7-year-old who fired his father’s handgun, according to court documents obtained Monday (Nov. 6) by Fox 8.

The account of the Nov. 1 shooting was provided by New Orleans police investigators in an affidavit seeking an arrest warrant for the children’s father, 32-year-old Kyle Charles.

At least three children were reported to be inside Charles’ home when the 5-year-old boy was shot in the chest. Police say a 6-year-old witnessed the shooting and told investigators that a 7-year-old took a gun from a safe in Charles’ room and shot the youngest child.

“Clearly, you’re not going to charge a 7-year-old, so the only adult is (Charles),” Fox 8 legal analyst and attorney Joe Raspanti said. “But to try to prove his guilty knowledge of the incident is going to be tough. So, I don’t have a problem with what they charged him with.”

Police reported an extensive criminal history, several outstanding warrants, and an open felony drug charge for Charles.

Investigators said a search of the home uncovered a locked safe in Charles’ bedroom containing three handguns, ammunition and narcotics. Two of the weapons were reported as stolen.

Charles was arrested on the day of the shooting on an outstanding domestic abuse warrant. The court documents from that case detail an alleged attack on the 5-year-old’s mother.

She told investigators that in 2019, Charles beat and strangled her while her children were present and threatened to kill her.

She told police the incident marked the sixth time Charles had assaulted her.

The day after the shooting, Charles was booked with firearm and drug charges. His bond was set last week at $275,000.

“It’s probably on the high side. But I believe that the judge did it because of the resulting facts,” Raspanti said. “And the judge probably realized that they can’t charge him -- probably -- with the shooting, but he deserves a higher bond than would normally be of a guy grabbed on the street with a gun in his waistband that happens to have a felony conviction.”

The victim’s mother tells Fox 8 the wounded child was treated at the hospital and released to her care Saturday. She said she was not home when the shooting occurred.

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