The Elsa man whose 3-year-old son fatally shot himself last year after finding a pistol in the closet where his toys were stored was sentenced to two years and a half in prison for unlawfully possessing a firearm, court records show.
Salvador Domingo Dueñez Jr., who was born in 1995, pleaded guilty in early July of this year for unlawful possession of a firearm after his son, Troy Blue Dueñez, “got a hold of it” and fatally shot himself with it.
Dueñez is also charged with making a firearm accessible to a child resulting in death or serious bodily harm, a class A misdemeanor, assault causing bodily injury and possession of marijuana which are also misdemeanor charges.
According to the criminal complaint, Elsa police responded to an emergency call to an apartment located at 208 Begonia Street on Oct. 18, 2021, where they found Dueñez carrying a boy in his arms.
Dueñez admitted to the officers that he had a firearm in his possession and that he kept it in his closet which resulted in Elsa police obtaining a search warrant for Dueñez’s apartment.
During the search, police found a 9mm Smith and Wesson Model M&P Shield EZ pistol which, according to the complaint, was found to not have been manufactured in Texas after a physical examination conducted by an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Interstate Nexus expert.
The ATF agents also determined that Dueñez is a previously convicted felon, the complaint said. He was convicted in Hidalgo County on a deadly conduct discharge of firearm charge on Sept. 19, 2018, they said. It stemmed from an offense Dueñez committed in 2015, according to the complaint.
A criminal complaint from Hidalgo County states that the gun was stored within a shoebox found inside a closet where the child’s toys were also stored.
Court documents show that Dueñez was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release with special conditions of outpatient drug treatment program for the possession charge.
Dueñez is set for a pre-trial hearing regarding his misdemeanor charges on Oct. 13.
