Man charged in Avon double-shooting after 4-year-old niece fires unattended gun

AVON — The man now charged in connection with a shooting that injured a young girl and her grandmother at an Avon home is the uncle of the girl who was shot and told police that she pulled the trigger while he wasn't paying attention, a court document reveals.

Brandon J. Clark, 25, was at the home Wednesday to train his sister in self-defense when her 4-year-old daughter accessed a handgun and pulled the trigger, shooting herself in the leg and her 47-year-old grandmother in the chest, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Avon police officers found the pair wounded while they responded about 12:40 p.m. to the 7300 block of Glensford for a report of a person shot. Clark was applying pressure to the girl's leg using a makeshift tourniquet at the time.

Clark told police the gun was fired from the kitchen, and officers found three firearms on a countertop. Clark said he was showing his sister how to unload the guns from another room when his niece fired one that was left unattended, according to the affidavit.

The girl and her grandmother were then transported to local hospitals for treatment and Clark and his sister were taken in for questioning.

They both told police Clark was showing his sister guns for self-defense. Clark said that he kept the guns loaded with one round in each of their chambers, adding, "in my eyes there is no point in having an unloaded pistol," according to the affidavit.

At some point, Clark's sister called for him and before he could realize what was happening, his niece had picked up one of the guns. The next thing he knew he heard her crying and saw her bleeding from her leg.

Clark also told police that while he was unloading the guns, his niece was repeatedly watching him and he kept pushing her away. He later said, "There (are) so many different places I could have done it looking back on it," according to the affidavit.

Clark is charged with criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon, a level 6 felony.

He was released from Hendricks County Jail Thursday on $500 cash bond, records show.

He's scheduled to appear for a jury trial Jan. 25, 2023, at Hendricks Superior Court.