Inset, left to right: Keiara Bickett appearing in Marion County Superior Court for her sentencing hearing and Javarius Bickett (WTHR). Background: Authorities responding to the CVS where Javarius shot and killed himself (WTHR).
A 29-year-old mother in Indiana will spend several years in prison in connection with the death of her 2-year-old son, who fatally shot himself with an unsecured handgun he found in her purse while the family was in a CVS parking lot.
Marion County Superior Court Judge Angela D. Davis on Tuesday ordered Keiara Bickett to serve three years in a state correctional facility followed by three years in community corrections and home detention, court records show.
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Davis handed down the sentence after Bickett pleaded guilty to one count each of reckless homicide and neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury. In exchange for Bickett’s guilty plea, prosecutors dropped one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, the most serious charge she was facing.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Bickett’s son, Javarius Bickett, was 2 years old when he got hold of his mother’s 9 mm Glock Model 26 Gen 5 on June 19, 2025.
Bickett was in the parking lot of a CVS in the 2300 block of East 46th Street in Indianapolis when Javarius reached into her unzipped purse and pulled out the handgun. The child fired a single shot that struck him in the head.
Bickett called 911 and reported that her son had shot himself. Emergency medical personnel transported Javarius to nearby Riley Hospital for Children, where he was pronounced dead.
The shooting was witnessed by Bickett’s then-8-year-old daughter, who had Javarius sitting on her lap at the time of the shooting.
Bickett told police that she had been driving with both children and that Javarius had initially been in his car seat without a seat belt. After stopping at a gas station, Bickett went to the CVS to pick up a prescription.
When the drive-thru was closed, she stopped to text a friend before going inside. That’s when she noticed Javarius was no longer in his car seat.
Bickett told investigators that she was trying to park and looking at her phone when she heard the gunshot. She said she ducked, then saw Javarius falling toward the passenger-side floorboard.
Bickett told police she normally kept her Glock in her purse, which she said she carried with her when she was out and stored in her closet when she was home. She said the firearm was supposed to be kept inside the zipped purse, but she did not believe the purse was zipped that day.
Investigators recovered the Glock from the driver’s side floorboard along with a fired cartridge in the chamber and a loaded magazine. They also found evidence of a bullet strike on the front passenger side and recovered a fired bullet from the back seat.
Bickett, who was visibly pregnant during her sentencing hearing, is due to give birth in November, local NBC affiliate WTHR reported.
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