On August 31, 2022, 21-month-old Khori Patterson died in Saint Louis after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. First responders reached the child around 1:00 p.m.; an officer found Khori bleeding and struggling to breathe and transported him by police vehicle to meet an ambulance, which then took him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators say Khori was sleeping between his mother, 24-year-old Alea Little, and her 30-year-old boyfriend, Donnell Straughter. Authorities allege a handgun had been left on a television stand within the child’s reach and that Little acknowledged knowing the gun was present and that neither adult secured it. Both Little and Straughter were charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death and held without bond.

Does anyone in the Baden neighborhood have information about where the child may have found the handgun or what happened in the minutes before the shooting?