Now, around six weeks later, Dione Warren, mother of the boy, Sheine Steine, has been arrested for criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death. This self-declared Second Amendment advocate reportedly left the boy alone with access to a gun, then instructed her daughter to lie to police about it. Photos, video and details below.
At about 9:45 a.m. on October 28, as we reported, Frederick police were called to a home on the 500 block of Pine Street, an area seen in the following interactive graphic; if you have problems seeing the image, click "View Larger Map."
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The womanwho dialed 911 -- later identified as Warren -- didn't mention a shooting. Rather, she reportedly said her child had suffered from an apparent fall and was losing a lot of blood. She added that he wasn't breathing.
Left out of this account was the fact that the boy's body was found in a bedroom near a handgun that had been recently fired. A bullet was found in the bed, after presumably ricocheting off a wall.Emergency personnel rushed the boy to a nearby hospital, but he was pronounced dead just over an hour later.
Now, an arrest affidavit obtained by the Longmont Times-Call sheds additional light on what took place. According to the document, Warren and her husband, Jeremy McCollum, owned a gun safe, but they'd started keeping a handgun under their mattress after hearing shots in the neighborhood. McCollum is said to have routinely returned the weapon to the safe each morning, but must have forgotten to do so on the 28th, and speculated that Sheine must have seen it there.Warren is quoted as telling investigators that she and her husband were Second Amendment supporters who viewed gun ownership as "part of our heritage as Americans." She added that they didn't hide these views from their kids -- Sheine, Warren's son from a previous relationship, and a school-age daughter.
Continue for more about the arrest of Dione Warren, including more photos and videos. On the fateful morning, Warren allegedly left Sheine on the bed while she took the girl to school -- an account offered by the family babysitter, with whom she is said to have been speaking during the brief trip.Upon her return to the home, she discovered Sheine gravely injured in the bedroom and called for help, but the boy was beyond saving.
CBS4 reports that in subsequent interviews with investigators, Warren initially said she'd been in another room when the fatal shot was fired, then switched her story, claiming to have been smoking in the car, which had been parked in the driveway. But the couple's daughter later told a different tale.
During a forensic interview recapped in the affidavit, the girl recalled Warren and McCollum taking her to the bathroom before she sat down with investigators and telling her to say Sheine was in the car when she'd been driven to school that morning. The pair also said not to let the cops know they used drugs, the document goes on, with them intimating that she might be taken away from them if things went south.After she acknowledged to police that Sheine had actually been left home alone, the girl reportedly said, "Actually, my mom and dad didn't want me to tell you that."
McCollum, who owns the gun in question, hasn't been charged in the case, but Warren was booked on the aforementioned child abuse charge after turning herself in on Monday. She appeared in Weld County court yesterday and was fitted with a $75,000 bond.
Here's Warren's booking photo, followed by the latest CBS4 report and our previous coverage.
Continue to see our original report about the toddler's death in Frederick. Original post, 6:51 a.m. October 29: Hanging over the entry of the suburban home in Frederick was the sort of decoration that's commonplace in the days leading to Halloween: a winged Grim Reaper.But what was once a symbol of holiday high spirits had been transformed into something much more literal. That's because a three year old child who'd lived at the house was dead, and preliminary evidence suggests that he suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Photos, video and the very sad details below.
At about 9:45 a.m. yesterday, according to the Longmont Times-Call, Frederick police were called to a home on the 500 block of Pine Street.The woman who dialed 911 didn't mention a shooting. Rather, she reportedly said her child had suffered from an apparent fall and was losing a lot of blood. She added that he wasn't breathing.
Left out of this account was the fact that the boy's body was found in a bedroom near a handgun that had been recently fired. As noted by 9News, a bullet was found in the bed, after presumably ricocheting off a wall.
Emergency personnel rushed the boy to a nearby hospital, but he was pronounced dead just over an hour later.
At this writing, no names have been released in the case, and neither have any charges been announced. But authorities, including personnel from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, appear to be leaning toward the boy firing the gun himself rather than being shot by someone else.Of course, allegations could result from this scenario, too, if the inquiry finds that the gun was left in such an accessible place that its location qualified as criminal neglect. In the meantime, however, we offer our sincere condolences to the child's family, friends and loved ones.
Here's a 9News report.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.
More from our News archive circa September: "Photos: Premila Lal accidentally killed by friend Nerrek Galley searching for intruder."
