Boy shoots self in foot; granddad charged

A Westbury grandfather faced child endangerment charges Saturday after his grandson shot himself in the foot with a shotgun he found in the man's closet.

Dennis Herring, 57, a nurse's aide of more than 25 years, was charged Friday with endangering the welfare of a child after his grandson, 12, discovered a shotgun in Herring's bedroom closet. The boy was in the care of aunts.

Herring posted $3,500 bail after a hearing before Judge Andrea Phoenix at First District Court in Hempstead.

Herring, who was at work when the boy shot himself around 12:50 p.m. Friday, pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge and was to appear again in court on Tuesday. After his release, he said he was relieved to be out of custody and wanted to visit his grandson in the hospital.

"I've been thinking about my grandson. We're gonna go see him," he said, adding the boy's recovery was "the biggest priority right now."

Defense attorney Michael DerGarabedian of Rockville Centre told the judge his client, who authorities said had never been arrested before, had owned his home in Westbury for 30 years and was a former volunteer firefighter. Herring was keeping the shotgun for a relative who had "a mental issue," DerGarabedian said.

"The defendant himself has never owned nor fired a gun," the attorney said.

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The boy was sleeping and was checked by an aunt just 10 minutes before the shooting. But the child "found the gun, took it out of its case and accidentally shot himself in the foot," DerGarabedian said.

He disputed a statement submitted on the child's behalf that read: "I was looking for something in my grandfather's closet and saw his rifle. When I went to move it, I accidentally shot myself in the foot." The boy did not sign the statement, DerGarabedian noted in court, a fact that went unchallenged by Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Scholl.

DerGarabedian said afterward he would move to have the matter thrown out.

Outside court, the boy's mother, Takia Fulton, 32, also of Westbury, described the incident as "a freak accident."

"It was no wrongdoing of his grandfather," she said. "He's an excellent grandfather."

The child had surgery on his right foot Friday and is recovering at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, family members said. "He had feeling in his toes," his mother said Saturday morning. The child was expected to undergo more surgery Sunday.

Herring was distraught, DerGarabedian said."Sometimes with an accident like this, the incident itself is punishment enough," he said.