Indiana couple charged with neglect after boy shoots self

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A northwestern Indiana couple have been charged with neglect after a young boy they were babysitting found a gun in a bedroom and fatally shot himself.

The Post-Tribune reports 24-year-old Rachel Lynn Griffin and 29-year-old Brett A. Beatty of Crown Point were charged Tuesday in Lake Superior Court with neglect of a dependent resulting in death and neglect of a dependent.

Four-year-old Eric Cole of Wheatfield died Aug. 5 after he found a handgun in a case under a bed in a bedroom at the couple's home.

An affidavit says Griffin told the boy and his sister to stay in the bedroom while she used the bathroom, then heard a bang and found the boy bleeding.

Beatty, who wasn't home, told investigators he thought the gun wasn't loaded.