Man sentenced to prison in child’s accidental shooting death
Police at the scene of a shooting in Moorhead on March 21, 2021. (KSTP/FILE)
A Moorhead man was sentenced Tuesday in connection to the accidental shooting death of a 6-year-old last year.
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 34-year-old Phillip Neal Jones, Jr., was sentenced to just shy of five years (57 months) in prison and three years of supervised release.
Authorities say Jones had a Walther .40 caliber pistol in his home on March 21, 2021. While he was away, a visiting child found the loaded gun under a chip box in the kitchen and it went off, hitting and killing a different child.
Prosecutors say Jones has prior felony convictions that prohibit him from having guns or ammunition.