Atlanta Toddler Dead After Being Shot With BB Gun

An Atlanta father has been accused of killing his 18-month-old son, after the child died from apparently being shot in the chest with a BB gun, police said.

Jessie L. Sellers, 23, is being charged with felony murder and second-degree child cruelty in connection with the death of Jesstin Sellers, and is being held without bond in the Fulton County Jail.

Police were called Friday morning just after 9:15 to the Boyton Village apartments in the 1000 block of Hank Aaron Drive.

The toddler's uncle, Willie Dickerson, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he arrived at the apartment to find Jessie Sellers standing outside crying.

Witnesses saw the bleeding child carried to an ambulance, and police say the boy was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Atlanta Police homicide unit commander Capt. Paul Guerrucci said investigators recovered a BB gun from inside the apartment near Braves Stadium.

"The caller said her young child had been shot in the chest with what she believed was a BB gun," Guerrucci said. "We found a child that had sustained some type of injury to the chest. Information that we are receiving would indicate that" the child was shot with a BB gun.

Forensic pathologists with the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office and the GBI will make the final determination on what caused the child's death, he said.

"We are speaking with involved parties to try to determine what happened," Guerrucci said. "We take these types of incidents seriously, and all resources are being used."

Dickerson said he thought the incident was an accident.

Police say three adults and three children were inside the apartment and police are involving the state Division of Family and Children Services in the investigation.

Police warned that guns shouldn't be used around children.

"It's never safe to have weapons around children," Guerrucci said.

A candlelight vigil will be held Friday at 7 p.m. for Jesstin in the parking lot of the apartment complex where his family lives.

Copyright 2013 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution