Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

Login Options

1:21 a.m. • 2-11-12

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Today: Mostly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 52° F
  • Sun: Clear.
    • Hi: 43° F
  • Mon: Mostly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 50° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Marketplace Links

Social Links

Main Menu

Ammunition seized from home where toddler shot himself


e-mail print friendly
Pharell Hinton

Raleigh police found two boxes of shotgun shells and a digital scale with a razor blade inside the home where a 3-year-old shot and killed himself late Christmas Eve, according to a search warrant returned Friday.

Investigators seized a 10-round box and an 18-round box of Winchester 12-gauge shotgun shells from 1123 Ujamaa Drive, where Pharell Hinton got access to a 9 mm handgun that, police believe, belongs to his father, Eric Hinton.

Hinton, 26, was arrested the next day on charges of involuntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a felon. He had been on probation since last December for a marijuana conviction and was not allowed to own a weapon.

The wrrant says that investigators also seized from the home, which belongs to Hinton's mother, an "Accurate Ammunition" box containing five 9 mm rounds, a disposable camera, cell phone, a letter addressed to Eric Hinton and a pink copy of a prior warrant for Eric Hinton.

Hinton's uncle, Brian Hinton, said last week that his nephew was trying to get Pharell, as well as two of his other two young sons, to go to bed and was trying to let them run themselves out of energy when the shooting occurred.

In a 911 call released last week, Hinton told the dispatcher he was in the back yard with his other sons playing hide-and-seek when he heard the gunshot.

Brian Hinton said his nephew was trying to change his life and suggested a shooting in October could be why he might have had a gun.

"If he had that gun, he definitely didn't purposefully leave it there," Brian Hinton said.

Hinton, who is being held under a $100,000 bond, has been on suicide watch at the Wake County Jail since his arrest.

Pharell's funeral was Friday at 1 p.m. at Haywood Funeral Home in Raleigh.

RELATED TOPICS: Wake County, Raleigh

e-mail print friendly

22 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments VIEW ALL 22 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments
There are those arguing that this man was trying to be a good parent. I completely disagree. Someone trying to be a good parent would never leave a gun out around childern. Never. Bottom line.

Ultimately one's parenting ability can be assessed by the percentage of one's children that make it to their majority. Loss of one due to gross negligence greatly harms the argument that one is a "good parent".

Did they seize the gun yet?

"I thank God everyday none of you are him!!! It is so easy for the "pot" to call the "kettle" black. Take a look at your own lives. What's important here is the fact a three year old has died. He father didn't shoot him or have him shot. He was there trying to be a good parent. We all make mistakes. WRAL you need to get a life!!!"----

Get a clue. The guy was a convicted felon and at the time of the shooting, he was committing a FELONY by even having a firearm in the first place. Trying to be a good parent? PLEASE. Lets see; a loaded 9mm in possession of a felon, scales, shotgun shells. Yeah right, he was really trying to be a good parent.

"So hard to understand after all the hype about gun safety and the children who have died, WHY it is impossible to keep your gun out of reach of your child."

HE WAS A FELON.

View Comments VIEW ALL 22 COMMENTS
Report It

Multimedia

Click Here