Couple Charged After 2 Kids Shot At Unlicensed Dearborn In-Home Daycare
DEARBORN (WWJ) - A Dearborn couple is facing a total of 20 felony charges in connection with the shooting of two young children at their home.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says Timothy Eubanks and his wife Samatha, both 32, are expected to turn themselves in for an arraignment in 19th District Court on Thursday.
It's alleged that the Eubanks were running an unlicensed daycare out of their home, in the 3600 block of Harding in Dearborn, when the shooting occurred on September 27.
Worthy says the couple knowingly left their handguns unsecured in an upstairs bedroom, knowing the weapons could endanger the lives of their own six children as well as two 3-year-old boys, a 1-year-old boy, a 4-month-old girl, a 1-year-old girl and a 3-year-old girl who were in daycare in the home.
While Samatha Eubanks was downstairs watching six of the kids she heard a noise, according to investigators, then going upstairs to find that her 3-year-old son had picked up a gun in a bedroom and shot one 3-year-old boy in the face and another 3-year-old in the shoulder.
Worthy on Wednesday charged Timothy Eubanks with six counts of second degree child abuse and Samatha Eubanks with 12 counts of second degree child abuse and two counts of felony firearm.
"I will continue to state emphatically and often that it is extremely dangerous to have firearms in a home accessible to children," Worthy said in a statement. "It is alleged that, in this case, the defendants' home was a day care center with firearms that were accessible and two very young children were seriously injured. It is an understatement to say that this cannot and should not ever be tolerated."
The child shot in the face remains hospitalized.
The Eubanks' six children have been removed from the home and have been placed with relatives.
