Baby Killed by Unattended Illegal Gun of Convicted Felon
Bibb County, March 22, 2023 – 30-year-old John Demetrius Simmons of Garden City, Georgia, pled guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon related to the February 14, 2021, death of a one year old child at the Chamber Cove Apartment Complex.
Simmons had been previously convicted of federal Armed Bank Robbery charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. He was in the Macon area with his girlfriend when they visited his girlfriend’s family in the Chamber Cove Apartments. Simmons had gone to that residence to do laundry and brought a loaded 9mm handgun with him. While there, he removed the gun from his pants and left it unattended on a chair. The toddler wandered over to the chair and reached for the weapon, which discharged and shot her in the abdomen. The child later died at the hospital from that injury.
“How many times do we have to experience the loss of a child because of the irresponsible and illegal behavior of adults with guns?” said Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard. “These are preventable tragedies that should never happen under any circumstance. Adults have the ability to prevent these traumatic incidents, and they must take personal responsibility for protecting the children around them.”
Simmons was sentenced to the maximum of 10 years on each of the charges to run consecutively and will serve his 20 years in the state penitentiary. The Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office thanks the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office for its diligent investigation of this tragic event.
