On the evening of April 19, 2017, 4-year-old Rayvon Anthony Messer Jr. was found critically injured by a gunshot outside a residence in the Ocean View neighborhood of Norfolk, Virginia. Police and medics responded to the 9500 block of 19th Bay Street around 7:45 p.m.; the boy was taken to a hospital and died shortly after arrival.

Rayvon’s father, 26-year-old Rayvon A. Messer, was taken into custody and initially charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Those charges were later amended: prosecutors dropped second-degree murder and filed felony homicide and felony child neglect instead. The defense has maintained the shooting was a tragic accident rather than an intentional act.

What information might help clarify how the gun was discharged and the circumstances that led to the child being outside the home that evening?