CARTHAGE, Mo. (AP) — A 27-year-old man pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in a case involving a 5-year-old shooting a dog with a handgun.
The Joplin Globe reports Daniel Byrd, of Carthage, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor count of child endangerment. He originally was charged with felony child endangerment. Byrd was given a suspended one-year prison sentence and will be on unsupervised probation for two years.
A probable cause statement said Carthage police were called on May 29 after the boy shot a pet dog with a handgun he found on a bedside table in Byrd’s bedroom. His bedroom was next to the children’s bedroom and had a door knob that couldn’t be fully latched.
The dog survived the shooting.
