South Jersey father charged in 4-year-old son’s accidental shooting death

A South Jersey father has been charged in the death of his 4-year-old son, who accidentally shot himself in their Pemberton Township home earlier this month, Burlington County authorities said Wednesday.

Andrew Mack, 31, of Browns Mills, will face a count of endangering the welfare of a child and a firearm-storage offense in connection with the death of his son Lincoln.

He was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon and will face his first appearance in Burlington County Superior Court on Thursday, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Just after 7 p.m. on Feb. 7, first responders from the Pemberton Township Police Department were called to the family’s home on the unit block of Maricopa Trail, where they discovered Lincoln with a gunshot wound to his cheek, authorities said. He was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

The investigation indicated that the father was asleep on a bed with a loaded 9mm handgun lying next to him when Lincoln went into the room, grabbed the pistol, and then went into another room where he had been playing with his younger sister. There, he shot himself in the face, the Prosecutor’s Office said.

Both of Lincoln’s parents were at home at the time of the shooting, as were his two siblings, authorities said.

An attorney believed to be representing Mack could not be immediately reached Wednesday afternoon.

“The death of Lincoln Mack was a tragedy, and it was made all the worse by the fact that it was entirely avoidable,” Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathies are with the Mack family and all of those who loved Lincoln, however, the defendant must be held accountable for not securing his firearm.”