Man gets almost 5 years in prison after child dies in accidental shooting
A Moorhead man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison after the accidental fatal shooting of a child with his gun.
Phillip Neal Jones, Jr., 34, was sentenced Tuesday to 57 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in September 2021 to being a felon in possession of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota said.
Jones had a Walther .40 caliber pistol in his home in Moorhead. While he was away on March 21, 2021, a child who was visiting found the loaded gun under a snack chip box in the kitchen. The gun ended up going off, hitting and killing another child.
Jones was prohibited from having a gun or ammunition after multiple felony convictions in Hennepin and Anoka counties.
