Jayden James Piedra, a 2-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida, died on February 8, 2019, after accidentally shooting himself at the Morningside Apartments on Jammes Road. He had been staying there with his mother, Donna Crump-Piedra, and her boyfriend, Lephabion Griggs. Jayden and his 7-year-old brother found a loaded, unsecured firearm on a table; while playing with it Jayden was fatally wounded and died about nine hours after being taken to the hospital.

Both adults were asleep on a couch when the shooting occurred. The gun was later determined to be stolen and had been left in plain view and easily accessible to the children. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office described the death as an accident that could have been prevented if the firearm had been properly secured.

Donna Crump-Piedra and Lephabion Griggs were arrested. Crump-Piedra pleaded guilty to child neglect and culpable negligence involving a firearm and was sentenced to seven years in prison with three years of probation and ordered to take parenting classes; she expressed deep remorse during sentencing. Griggs was charged with culpable negligence, improper storage of a firearm and violation of probation and was held on $50,000 bail; an investigation into how he obtained the stolen firearm was ongoing.

Did anyone in the Morningside Apartments area at the time see the children with the gun or have information about the firearm’s origin?