Loaded gun left in room where SC child was shot, later died, warrants show

A Lancaster man said he left his loaded gun in the living room of his house at 509 E. Dunlap St. That’s where Jacarion Gladden suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest, arrest warrants show.

The 2-year-old’s mother, Toni Lashay Gladden, 26, knew her live-in boyfriend, Shazeem Tyrell Hayes, 18, often kept the handgun unsecured in the living room, according to arrest warrants.

Hayes told police he placed his “loaded 9 mm handgun down in the living room of his house,” then “walks away from the living room area and a short time later a gunshot was heard from inside the residence,” according to the warrants.

The warrant states: “Hayes and Toni Gladden (the child’s mother) came back into the living room and located victim, Jacarion Gladden, a 2-year-old child, with a gunshot wound to the his chest lying on the couch. Hayes and Gladden then loaded the child up into a car and attempted to drive the child to Springs Memorial Hospital but crashed the car on the way.”

The warrant says Jacarion later died at the hospital.

Police and prosecutors won’t discuss more details of the case.

Hayes is charged with felony unlawful conduct toward a child. His bond was denied.

Hayes is on probation from a 2016 conviction for weapons and burglary, according to court records and probation officials.

He pleaded guilty to the charges in August 2016 after an arrest in April 2016. He received 18 months probation and a Youthful Offender Act sentence of up to five years, said Pete O’Boyle, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.

As a convicted felon, Hayes could be prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Gladden was arrested and is charged with misprision of a felony and unlawful conduct toward a child. She has been released on $60,000 bond.

Karla Knight Deese, Lancaster County coroner, responded to Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster after 8 p.m. Monday. An autopsy confirmed he died from a single gunshot, Deese said in a statement.

Lancaster Police Chief Scott Grant said at a Tuesday news conference Gladden made an “obvious attempt” to “mislead investigators and hamper this investigation.”

The arrest warrant says Gladden “did knowingly, willingly and unlawfully withhold pertinent information” and gave “several different statements in an effort to mislead law enforcements efforts pursuing the true suspect.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2017 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Loaded gun left in room where SC child was shot, later died, warrants show."