Charges dropped for gun owner whose firearm injured 5-year-old in Feltonville
24-year-old Nasir Baskerville was charged with multiple criminal offenses in April.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has dropped criminal charges against a city man who was arrested in April after a 5-year-old boy injured his hand while firing a gun the man left unattended in his home, authorities said Monday.
Nasir Baskerville, 24, of Philadelphia, had faced charges of possessing an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person, and tampering with evidence.
On April 19, the child was rushed to the hospital after cutting his hand on Baskerville’s gun, which he had come across in a Feltonville home while visiting with his 21-year-old sister, according to police.
The child was injured after firing the gun, which slid and cut his hand. He was treated at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and released. No one else was injured in the shooting.
Prosecutors withdrew the charges against Baskerville earlier this month in part because the child’s injuries were minor, and the boy’s family did not wish to participate in the case against Baskerville and described him as a positive influence on the child’s life.
Baskerville’s attorney, Fortunato N. Perri, declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment.