Indiana Couple Arrested After Police Found Video Of Baby Playing With Handgun

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 11, 2015 5:00PM

Toni Wilson (left) and Michael Barnes. (Photo courtesy Evansville Police Department)

In what can be considered questionable judgment by anyone's definition, an Indiana couple was arrested Friday after police discovered video of an infant playing with a handgun on a cellphone.

Toni Wilson, 22, and Michael Barnes, 19, were charged with child neglect, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and allowing a child to possess a firearm after police found two videos on Barnes' phone. In the video below, Barnes is heard trying to get the 1-year-old boy to say "pow;" the baby can be seen placing the barrel of the gun in her mouth even with her face obscured.

Barnes was a suspect in an armed robbery and allegedly tried to sell a gun to an undercover police officer. When questioned about the videos, Wilson claimed it was a pellet gun when in fact, it was a .40 caliber handgun. Police would not say if the gun was loaded but, still, letting a baby play with an unloaded gun isn't a good idea.

Barnes was also charged with resisting law enforcement with a weapon, carrying a handgun without a permit and carrying a handgun without a permit within 500 feet of a school. The boy and a pair of 1-month-old twins were removed from the home; Barnes is not the father of the 1-year-old.