An Allentown man whose carelessness with firearms led a 3-year-old boy to fatally shoot himself in March pleaded guilty Tuesday and faces up to 30 months in prison.
According to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, Jose Hilario Abreu, 29, left a loaded semiautomatic handgun on the cushion of a couch where Elijah Abreu Borgen and a 2-year-old child were sitting.
Elijah’s mother told police that her son grabbed the gun and accidentally shot himself in the torso. He succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. A test yielded a positive indication for gunshot residue on the toddler’s hands, indicating he had fired the shot.
Abreu pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in which the victim was under age 12 and endangering the welfare of a child. Both are second-degree felonies.
The plea agreement calls for a minimum sentence of 18 to 30 months. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 11 before Judge Robert L. Steinberg.
The case was investigated by Allentown police detectives Joseph Beiner and Harold Bonser, the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force, the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office and the Lehigh County Firearm and Toolmark Laboratory. Pennsylvania state police assisted with Abreu’s arrest.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Sara A. Moyer and Senior Deputy District Attorney Sarah Heimbach prosecuted the case.
