The father of a 4-year-old Huntsville boy filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the man who pleaded guilty in connection with his son’s accidental shooting death.
Joshua Everson, the father of 4-year-old Kaiden D. Everson, claimed Nickarious McConnico was negligent when McConnico left a loaded gun on a coffee table where Kaiden was able to retrieve it, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Madison County Circuit Court.
Kaiden died April 28 after picking up the gun and firing it that morning.
McConnico pleaded guilty in January to criminally negligent homicide and was sentenced earlier this month to a year of work release.
Court documents did not list an attorney for McConnico in the civil case. Anthony Emory, his lawyer in the criminal case, could not immediately be reached.
McConnico was an overnight guest of Kaiden’s mother, Charyce Ahlschlager, the lawsuit stated.
McConnico “possessed a firearm that he brought to the residence, and before going to sleep, placed said loaded firearm on a coffee table within living area of the residence. The firearm was both loaded and placed in such a location that any person could easily retrieve it,” the lawsuit alleged.
McConnico “took no steps to properly store the above-referenced firearm to protect the public and people within the residence,” it went on to claim.
The lawsuit, which accuses McConnico of negligence and wantonness, seeks a jury trial and penalty of “a sum in excess of the jurisdictional limits of this Court, which is adequate to reflect the enormity of the defendants’ wrongful acts and which will deter and/or prevent other similar or wrongful acts…”