FRANKLIN COUNTY, Mo. — A man whose 4-year-old son found a pistol and accidentally killed himself in their Union home told detectives he left the handgun under his couch and fell asleep after smoking marijuana and taking a painkiller, according to court documents obtained Friday.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged the father, Scott Edward Hilton Jr., with second-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was being held in the Franklin County Jail in lieu of $250,000 cash bail.
His son, identified in court papers by the initials M.H., accidentally shot himself in the chest about 6 a.m. Thursday at his home on Star Circle Drive. He died at Mercy Hospital in Washington.
