The 3-year-old Elsa boy who fatally shot himself last October found the gun hidden in a shoe box where the boy’s toys were kept, according to a misdemeanor complaint.
Salvador Domingo Dueñez Jr., 26, was scheduled to be arraigned on a charge of making a firearm accessible to a child causing death, as well as a misdemeanor charge of assault causing bodily injury related to a Oct. 21 fight at the Salinas Funeral Home in Elsa during a viewing service for his son, Troy Blue Dueñez, on Tuesday in county court.
However, he’s now in federal custody after being indicted Tuesday on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm affecting interstate commerce.
The boy shot himself on Oct. 18 after finding the weapon, a Smith and Wesson pistol, Model M&P Shielf EZ, caliber 9mm, in the closet at a residence in the 200 block of Begonia Street in Elsa.
“At the scene, (Elsa police) officers made contact with Salvador Domingo Dueñez Jr. …, who carried a boy in his arms. Dueñez told officers that he … has a firearm and that the boy had ‘got a hold of it,’” a criminal complaint stated.
Federal authorities first charged the man with the federal charge via a criminal complaint filed on March 29.
The Tuesday indictment charges him with unlawfully possessing the firearm because he was convicted in state district court on Sept. 19, 2018 on a charge of deadly conduct discharge firearm.
State court records indicate that conviction was related to him shooting at a vehicle on a roadway on Jan. 25, 2017. He had initially entered a guilty plea and received five years probation, but he failed to abide by the conditions and was sentenced to two years in prison on Sept. 19, 2018.
He is scheduled to be arraigned on the federal indictment on April 28 in front of U.S. District Judge Randy Crane.
