June 9 – HAMILTON – A former Centerville police officer was indicted today by a Butler County grand jury after a 3-year-old boy shot himself and committed suicide with a handgun on March 30 at a Hamilton residence. The boy died from head injuries on March 31.
According to court records, Benjamin Bishop was charged with manslaughter, reckless homicide and child endangerment.
The loaded gun was found unsecured on a window sill, according to Butler County Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Sheehan.
Emergency crews responded around 7 p.m. on March 30 to the 900 block of Park Avenue and found the child with a gunshot wound to the left side of the head.
He was taken from the scene by ambulance to Kettering Health Hamilton on Eaton Avenue and then to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where he died, according to the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office.
Police were alerted to the shooting when a man who called 911 informed dispatchers of the incident.
“He picked up a gun,” the caller told a Butler County dispatcher.
After some questions about his condition, the dispatcher asked, “He committed suicide, didn’t he?”
“Yes, we believe so,” said the caller.
The caller stated that the firearm used was on the second floor of the residence when it was unloaded. The caller said the child’s mother is a nurse but could not control the bleeding despite applying pressure. The boy also had seizures after apparently shooting himself in the head.