‘Who Are Khori Patterson Parents? 21-Month-Old Boy Finds Loaded, Unsecured Gun, Shoots Himself in the Head’ The 21-month-old toddler who found a loaded gun and shot himself in the head has died, and a Missouri couple has been charged with child endangerment.
Police said Alea Little, 24, and her boyfriend, 30-year-old Donnell Straughter, were in bed with the toddler at Little’s home at about 1 p.m. on August 31. The boy, Khori Patterson, crawled off the bed and left the room, the St Louis Post Dispatch reported.
Moments later, Little, Khori’s mother, heard a gunshot and found the boy slumped over with blood pooling around him.
Little reported that Straughter had allegedly informed her, “They can’t know I had this gun,” after placing the firearm on the television stand the previous evening. They can’t know he shot himself with this rifle,” he said, getting into his car, and driving off. After that, no one could find him.
Nearly every morning and evening, Khori Patterson went for a walk with his grandfather, making sure to play with all the dogs on the street, a ritual that the dogs and their owners came to enjoy and anticipate.
Lee Little reported that his 21-month-old grandson adored animals, ice cream, and running up and down the street in his neighborhood. So much so, Little said, the boy refused to get in his stroller as they went from house to house in Little’s neighborhood in Bellefontaine Neighbors. The two would sometimes shake up their routine and go on a motorcycle ride around the block, which Little said Khori loved just as much.
Who Are Khori Patterson Parents? 21-Month-Old Boy Finds Loaded, Unsecured Gun, Shoots Himself in the Head
Khori died Wednesday after accidentally shooting himself in his mother’s home, in the city’s Baden neighborhood on Melvin Avenue just east of Jennings. He was one of about a dozen children shot and killed in St. Louis this year.
“The walks were my way of teaching him about birds and flowers and dogs and squirrels,” Little told the Post-Dispatch Thursday. “And we would go over the ABCs and go over our numbers. He was just a wonderful kid and he was going to be a wonderful person one day.”
Lee babysat the child most days of the week while his daughter, Alea Little, worked an early morning shift at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
“She stepped up and did a wonderful job as a mother,” Little said. “The mom did her part — it was just a tragic accident. A wonderful mom she wa.”
Little said that as a single mother, Alea Little couldn’t afford daycare, which is why Khori spent most of his days with his grandfather at his home just outside the city.
But Khori lived with his mother on her days off, which differed from week to week. Little said this week she was off Tuesday and Wednesday.
His daughter told Little that she, a friend, and Khori were asleep Wednesday afternoon before the shooting.
The friend had a gun, Little said. He left it on the TV stand.
“Khori woke up first and got the gun,” Little said. “And went into his room.”
Little said his daughter called him right after the shooting and he rushed over from his home, which is about 3 miles away.
Little said he held Khori in his arms in the police car as officers drove toward the hospital.
The officers were met by paramedics after about 10 blocks, Little said. But Khori was already dead.
“I kept telling him to breathe, and he would take a breath,” Little said. “I said, ‘Khori if you hear me, hug me.’ He wrapped his arm around me and he took a breath — and he never took another one.”
Little said he’s worried about his daughter, now, too.
Alea Little’s friend, the man who brought the gun over to the home, left the house with the firearm prior to police arriving, Little said.
St. Louis police said Thursday that they had not made an arrest in the case.
But Little commended them on their work.
“St. Louis Police Department did a wonderful job,” he said. “They got there on time and, I mean, it wasn’t just one — it was 10 officers.”
For now, Little and his family are trying to cope with Khori’s death. Little said he’s been helping his daughter make funeral arrangements.
“My heart is broken,” Little said. “My best friend is gone.”
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