Posted on February 9, 2012

Child Left Alone in Car Points Gun at Memphis Police

Jamel Major, WMC TV, February 6, 2012

Police say a two-year-old pointed a gun at them while they were checking on a report that the child and its siblings were left alone in a car while their mother got her nails done.

It was a bizarre twist of events that left other customers wondering why a mother would leave her kids alone in such a dangerous environment.

“It’s a crying shame,” said Nicole Eubanks, after she heard about the arrest of 23-year-old Erica Rooks. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Rooks is charged with marijuana possession, unlawful possession of a weapon and three counts of leaving a child unattended in a vehicle.

Police say Rooks left a four-year-old, a two-year-old and a nine-month-old alone in her car, where she kept a loaded gun, while she was getting a manicure at Beautiful Nails Salon.

“I don’t care if I’ve got 22 kids,” Eubanks said. “If I feel like going to get my nails did. I’m going to line them all up and we fixing to sit in that… nail shop. It’s ridiculous!”

{snip}

When officers arrived, they found the children in a black Chevy Impala with the car still running. {snip}

{snip}

During the incident, police also saw one of the children pointing what looked like a silver handgun at them. An officer took the gun and saw it was real and loaded with three rounds.

{snip}

 

Erica Rooks