Andrew Mack, Father Of 4-Year-Old Boy Who Fatally Shot Himself, Has Initial Hearing In Burlington County Court
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (CBS) -- The father of a New Jersey boy who fatally shot himself went before a judge on Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors have charged Andrew Mack with child endangerment and other related offenses.
Prosecutors say the boy's father fell asleep, leaving a loaded gun within the child's reach.
Appearing by video conference, Mack made an initial appearance in Burlington County court.
Mack is charged with endangering the welfare of his 4-year-old son, Lincoln Mack, after allegedly leaving a loaded handgun where the child could access it, which resulted in the boy's death earlier this month.
Attorney Richard Isolda says his client's charges stem from a terrible accident.
Just after 7 p.m. on Feb. 7, Pemberton police and EMTs responded to Mack's home on Maricopa Trail in Browns Mills for a report of a child shot.
They discovered 4-year-old Lincoln with a gunshot wound in his cheek. First responders rushed the boy to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators say Mack had fallen asleep in his bedroom and left a loaded 9mm handgun next to him on the bed.
Lincoln found the gun and took it to another room where he was playing with it with his little sister and accidentally shot himself in the face.
Lincoln's older brother and mother were also home at the time.
"Not doing too well, as you can imagine. They're still grieving. I mean, it just happened. So not well at all, I can tell you that," Isolda said of the family.
Isolda says Mack is a petty officer in the U.S. Navy, stationed at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
The gun involved is a privately-owned weapon.
If convicted, Mack could spend more than a decade behind bars, though his attorney says the pain of losing a child will never go away.
"People ask me what's he looking at sentence-wise, and I say let me put it to you this way: 'He just started a life sentence because it's going to last him for a lifetime,'" Isolda said.
Prosecutors did not seek to hold Mack in jail so he will be released with the condition that he's not allowed to have any guns.
