MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A father and grandfather have now been charged after a four-year-old boy accidentally shot himself and died in Germantown nearly two years ago.
The child’s father, who was out on bond for a shooting when his child died, is currently out of jail on $80,000 bond. The district attorney’s office says they may seek a higher bond at his hearing in July.
Jerry Anderson III, known as Tre, died less than a week before his fifth birthday.
Both Jerry Anderson Jr. and Jerry Anderson Sr. are charged with Aggravated Child Abuse, Criminally Negligent Homicide and Theft of a Firearm, according to an indictment handed down May 14.
Police say Tre was being watched by his father at his paternal grandparents’ home when he found a gun and pulled the trigger on June 22, 2022.
The indictment states the two men “neglected” Tre that day, resulting in serious bodily injury and his death. Count three in this indictment stated the firearm was stolen and even lists who it belongs to, but didn’t say how or why they had it.
According to the autopsy Tre’s maternal grandmother showed us, the cause of death is ruled as “suspected homicide.”
“This is not the child’s fault. This is not Tre’s fault,” said his grandmother, Elizabeth Covington.
WREG requested the autopsy report in July 2022, but the medical examiner’s office has yet to provide a copy.
But Covington provided WREG with a copy. It states Tre’s paternal grandfather, Jerry Anderson Sr., “kept a weapon in his drawer in the bedroom”and Tre “reportedly found it and somehow shot himself in the head.”
At the time of the shooting, police say Anderson Jr., the child’s father, was out of jail on bond for for a list of charges, including two counts of Criminal Attempt First-Degree Murder and Aggravated Assault – Acting in Concert.
In July 2020, police say Anderson Jr. and three others shot multiple rounds at a home full of people on McLemore Avenue. Police counted 130 spent shell casings. Three were injured including a toddler and a 70-year-old.
In February, Anderson Jr. pleaded to lesser charges, getting eight years probation. This week, he was back in jail with his father.
We talked with Tre’s mother back when this all happened. She says she was on her way to pick Tre up when she got the call saying he was shot.
She wanted to know why a gun was left in a place where a child could get it and why no one was watching Tre.
“I was banging on the doors. I got in there and I saw my baby lifeless, shot. I just fell. I couldn’t do anything for him,” Tre’s mother said.
WREG Investigators asked the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office why it took so long to take the case to a grand jury.
A spokesperson said the initial prosecutor handling the case changed, which may have played a role in the delay, and it also takes time for law enforcement and the Department of Children’s Services to gather evidence.
Covington is furious about the delay.
“Two adults who left a loaded gun, a stolen and loaded gun out, for a child to reach. Then the system just turned a blind eye and they just put them back out on the street and nothing is done,” she said.
The next court date for both Anderson Jr. and Sr. is scheduled for July 8. The county’s jail log shows both released with $80,000 bond.
In the meantime, Tre’s mother is in the hospital after giving birth to a little brother Tre will never get to meet.
“Tre wanted a little brother. You know, it was sad that that that he didn’t live to see his little brother,” she said.