John Jefferson
Background: The 2100 block of N. 2nd St. in Nashville, Tenn. (Google Maps). Inset top: Phillipe Woodard (Spring Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery). Inset bottom: Gracie Patton Mims (Metropolitan Nashville Police Dept.).
An 8-year-old boy in Tennessee died after accidentally shooting himself — and police say that the child’s grandmother is to blame.
Gracie Patton Mimms, 48, has been charged with criminal homicide and aggravated child neglect in the Sept. 14 death of Phillip’e Woodard. According to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Phillip’e was at Mimms’ home that day when he was left unsupervised with access to a loaded gun.
“Mimms was determined to have been the adult responsible for Phillip’e when she departed the N. 2nd Street home to go spend time with friends,” police said. “She is alleged to have left him inside a room where a loaded shotgun was out and easily accessible. Phillip’e was handling the shotgun when it went off, fatally wounding him.”
More from Law&Crime: 5-year-old boy fatally shoots himself while jumping on the bed with loaded gun in front of siblings, mom gets months in jail
Youth Services investigators initially found that Phillip’e had been left at the home with his 10-year-old brother and a 16-year-old family friend when he started playing with the loaded shotgun.
“The 16-year-old reported being asleep when the gunshot went off and he ran to a neighbor for help,” police said.
Phillip’e died after being taken to Vanderbilt Pediatrics, the statement said.
Police noted that Phillipe’s death is the “third accidental child death from a firearm so far” in Nashville in 2024 and reminded gun owners that “FREE gunlocks are available at MNPD Headquarters, all eight precincts and the Records Division public counter in Madison.”
Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV reported that Mimms knew there was a shotgun in the bedroom that night, but she thought it was “unloaded.”
WSMV also reported that Phillip’e had been accepted to his school’s gifted student program, and his teachers said he brought a joyous energy to the class.
“I enjoyed starting second grade just to see him,” Shwab Elementary teacher Crisma Carter told the station.
“This was a life,” she also said. “And a life that was important. That life mattered.”
More from Law&Crime: ‘A parent’s worst nightmare’: Mom charged after 2-year-old fatally shot himself in face at Sunoco
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