Toddler Dies in Accidental Shooting While His Mom Was in Another Room Playing Uno

Details around the shooting are incomplete. One account alleges that the toddler found the unsecured gun, belonging to Tatisha Refuge, the friend they were visiting, and discharged it, fatally shooting himself, The Mirror reported.

But Ratliff doesn’t agree with that account. “My son didn’t find a gun. Um, he had no idea a gun was in the house,” Ratliff told KHOU. Instead, she said Refuge had the gun with her. “She told my mother that the gun fell off her hip and um, and shot my son,” Ratliff said.

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She described Refuge as a mother figure to her and grandparent to her children, having been in her life for 17 years. Her older son had been staying with Refuge in the days before Rudy’s shooting.

“It was an accidental shooting,” Ratliff said in an early interview with Fox 8 Live. The gun fell off his grandparent. It wasn’t in a safe. It wasn’t in a handgun position, it was just in the pocket I guess and fell out and shot my son,” she said. “I believe in my heart it was a mistake. I just don’t understand.”

Although Ratliff seemed to offer grace in the first few days after Rudy’s death, now it appears she wants some form of justice. “I’m angry, I’m angry, I’m a broken-hearted mum,” she told WWLTV. “My son asked me yesterday where his brother at. I am angry, I am upset and I want her to be held accountable.”

Refuge turned herself in to New Orleans police on Monday, KHOU reported. She faces a charge of negligent homicide. Police said they will file additional charges later. The New Orleans police department claimed Refuge tampered with the crime scene “after immediately fleeing the location,” WWLTV reported.

Immediately after the shooting, Ratliff grabbed her son and rushed him to the hospital.

“I got on the phone with 911. But in the midst of all that, we grabbed my baby and got up out of there and I drove,” she told Fox 8. “I drove as fast as I could to University (Medical Center). And he was still breathing when he got there. About 15 or 20 minutes later they came out and told me he didn’t make it.”

Ratliff can’t believe any of it is real. “It just feels like a dream. I just wanna wake up from it right now. He was a beautiful soul. I’ll never forget my baby. I never thought I would be living life without him.”

If convicted, Refuge would serve no less than two or more than 10 years, without the possibility of parole, because the victim was younger than 10, Fox 8 reported.

Ratliff has launched a GoFundMe account to help her give Rudy a proper burial. It’s raised more than $7,000 thus far.