Two Granite Falls parents are charged with manslaughter for the 2021 death of their 11-month-old, who was killed when a gun allegedly left on a coffee table went off.
The infant died in her father's mobile home in December 2021 from a through-and-through gunshot wound, according to charging documents filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Jesse Kitson, 33, and Arabella Watts, 27, are charged with first-degree manslaughter with a deadly weapon and first-degree unsafe firearm storage. Watts is also charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm.
Unsafe firearm storage, a gross misdemeanor, is a newer criminal charge that went into effect in 2019 under Washington's voter-approved Initiative 1639. Under the law, firearm owners can be charged for a crime of community endangerment if someone not allowed to possess a firearm — like a child or a felon — gains access to it and shoots it or uses it for a crime.
Kitson placed the loaded and holstered revolver on their table in front of the couch, where Watts was on her phone and their daughter was playing by the table, according to charges. At some point the child grabbed the revolver or pulled a coat that was entangled with it, causing the gun to fall on the floor and fire upon impact, prosecutors allege, shooting the girl in the chest.
Watts called 911 and the fire department, but medics could not revive the infant. The investigation revealed both adults were familiar with firearms and had a safety manual for the revolver, prosecutors wrote. Watts was convicted of a separate felony in 2016 and could not legally possess a firearm.
The couple had argued about Kitson's handling of the firearm, and Watts told law enforcement she "knew that this could happen," according to charges.
After the shooting, Watts yelled at Kitson that he was getting rid of his guns, and said he would get rid of two before she asked "if that was all that mattered to him right now," the charging documents stated. During an interview with detectives, Kitson reportedly said he had put the gun on a shelf, not the coffee table. When detectives later searched the shelves, they were dusty and did not appear disturbed, prosecutors wrote.
A forensic scientist found that a fall from about 18 inches to a hard surface could cause enough force to make the gun fire, according to the charging documents. The firearm was a replica of an 1858 revolver, did not have a safety bar, and could fire when dropped if a live cartridge was aligned with the barrel and the hammer was down.
Watts and Kitson are set to be arraigned Tuesday.
