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Father arrested after toddler son shoots himself

Timothy Jerome Addison was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm after his two-year-old son Timberlan found a loaded 9mm in the couch while playing and fatally shot himself in the chest.

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published November 26, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT Timberlan Addison, 2 accidently shot himself in the chest after he found a gun in his father's couch. [Family photo] [Times photo: Justin Cook] "I was all shook up," exclaimed Renee Henderson, second from left, as she is comforted by her niece Shakir Hannah. Henderson called 911 after Timothy Addison rushed his mortally wounded son Timberlan Addison, 2, across the street to her house.

TAMPA — Timothy Jerome Addison  and his 2-year-old son Timberlan  were crazy about each other.

“Nobody loved a son more than that man loved his little boy,” said Nadine Walker, Timberlan’s aunt.

Timberlan’s mother, Jacqualine Wilson,  knew right away what to think when she received a phone call Sunday morning that Timberlan had been shot in the chest while playing at his father’s North Tampa home, near Sulphur Springs.

“It was an accident,” said Wilson, 23, flanked by a dozen family members as she stood outside her Seminole Heights apartment Sunday afternoon.

Tampa police responded to a 911 call on N 15th Street around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Addison, 37, had rushed his bleeding son to a neighbor’s house for help.

Addison told detectives that he and Timberlan were playing around on the couch, where Addison had forgotten he stashed a 9mm handgun between the cushions, said police spokesman Larry McKinnon.

“He had forgotten it was there,” McKinnon said.

At some point while Timberlan was playing on the couch, he found the gun and it fired once into his chest. He died shortly after arriving at Tampa General Hospital.

Addison had not been charged as of late Sunday with culpable negligence, but McKinnon said detectives would review the case with the state attorney’s office. Officers did arrest Addison, however, and charge him with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Addison had a safe inside his home that contained other firearms, McKinnon said.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show that Addison has an arrest sheet in the state that dates back to 1987. His criminal history shows that he spent time in prison after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine. Other arrests on his record include several charges for carrying a concealed firearm, aggravated battery and domestic violence, including a charge nearly 20 years ago of child abuse that was later dismissed.

McKinnon said additional charges in Sunday’s shooting could follow.

Meanwhile, the close-knit neighborhood where Timothy Addison lived shared tears outside his home at 9408 N 15th Street, trying to console each other through the tragedy.

“He’s just the sweetest little boy,” said Tawanna Stevens , one of Addison’s friends.

She showed drove to Addison’s house and sat in her car, unable to move, as tears streamed down her face.

“I just can’t get his smile out of my head,” she said of Timberlan, who she called “Little Man.”

Renee Henderson  retold the story of how Addison rushed across the street to her home for help, with the bloody child in his arms. She’s the one who called 911.

“I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t care what happened,” Henderson said. “I just wanted to get some help.”

Wilson, the child’s mother,  said that Addison told her he heard the gunshot and then he heard Timberlan crying. It wasn’t until Addison picked his son up that the knew the child was shot.

Timberlan was the only child the two shared together. Addison had five children total, Wilson said, and she had four. Timberlan was the youngest and his parents shared custody, his mother said.

He turned 2 less than a month ago, on Oct. 29, and got his first bicycle.

Wilson said she knows how devastated Addison must be, and neither she nor anyone in her family blame him for the tragedy. He would do anything for his son, she said.

And Timberlan loved his father so much, that any time he would see a Chevrolet Avalanche that looked like his dad’s, his mother said he’d say, “There’s Dadda .”

Times staff writer Rick Gershman contributed to this story. Kevin Graham can be reached at (813) 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 26, 2006, 19:58:01]