Brayden Heath, a 3-year-old white male, died on August 5, 2015, in a South Anchorage home after finding a loaded. 38-caliber revolver that had been left unsecured in the area where he lived and played. Police were called just after noon; medics pronounced the 3-year-old dead at the scene on the 4000 block of Olympic Terrace Circle as detectives began interviews and processed the home.
Early reports the day of the shooting described an active investigation into the fatal gunshot, with officials later determining the wound was self-inflicted.
Investigators concluded the handgun had been accessible for several days inside the residence. In January 2016, following completion of the joint investigation by Anchorage Police, the State Medical Examiner's Office, and the State Crime Detection Laboratory, prosecutors charged Brayden's mother, Elizabeth Morin, with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for leaving the loaded firearm unsecured. In August 2016, Morin pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide pursuant to a plea agreement, and on February 2, 2017, a Superior Court judge sentenced her to 18 months with 15 months suspended, three months to serve, and two years of supervised felony probation, emphasizing parental responsibility for hazardous items in the home.
No other suspects were sought in the child's death. The legal proceedings centered on Morin's negligence; state prosecutors and the court treated the shooting as a self-inflicted injury by a 3-year-old male made possible by an unsecured weapon, culminating in the mother's conviction and sentence rather than an unresolved homicide investigation.
