ELGIN, Iowa – The owner of a gun that a 4-year-old boy used to kill himself in Iowa last summer has been charged with illegally owning the firearm after telling police he uses marijuana.
Daniel Henriksen, 29, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to being an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm. He wasn't there when 4-year-old Jayden Choate shot himself in Henriksen's trailer on June 17 in Elgin, a town in northern Iowa.
An affidavit signed by an Iowa agent says the boy and his younger brother and sister were trying to nap while their mother and another individual were sitting on the deck. The agent says Jayden found Henriksen's handgun and unintentionally shot himself.
The affidavit says Henriksen, as a marijuana user, was ineligible to own the gun.
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