Felonies filed against mother, uncle of Milwaukee 6-year-old killed in accidental shooting

• Daquela Collins and Quintell Collins are facing felony charges related to the accidental, self-inflicted gunshot death of 6-year-old Daquell “King” Collins.
• Prosecutors filed two felony child neglect charges against Daquela, King’s mother, and six felonies against Quintell, the uncle. The mother is facing a felony child neglect charge.
• On Friday, family members held a birthday vigil for boy known as King. His father described him as a child who loved his family and an attendee said he was a “dancing machine.”

The mother and uncle of a 6-year-old Milwaukee boy are facing felonies in the accidental shooting death of the child.

Milwaukee prosecutors charged Daquela Collins and Quintell Collins, the child’s mother and uncle, in the April 1 death of Daquell “King” Collins. The mother is facing a child neglect charge, while the uncle was charged with six felonies, including second-degree reckless homicide, and a misdemeanor.

Authorities say Daquela was at work when the King accidentally shot himself and a gun she owned was found near his body. Meanwhile, Quintell filmed himself on social media holding the firearm and another gun earlier in the day of the shooting, according to a criminal complaint outlining charges.

The charges filed on Sunday follow a Friday vigil for King.

At it, family members and attendees celebrated what would have been his 7th birthday. He was described as a loving brother and son, and as a “dancing machine.”

“He just was a good kid,” King’s father Rashadd Vinson-Turney said.

Meanwhile, Aundayous Burks, a former partner of Daquela and who said he was the child’s stepfather, said the boy he coparented made him want to be a better man. He defended the mother at the vigil.

“His mama loved him with all her heart. She was there for him since day one,” Burks said. “His mama would go broke for him.”

It is common for the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office to charge parents and other caretakers in accidental shootings with felony child neglect, a Journal Sentinel investigation found. Conversely, similar incidents are more often charged as misdemeanors in other counties in Wisconsin, the investigation found.

Accidental shootings that kill children are rare, making up only 5% of all gun deaths for those younger than 18 nationally. In Wisconsin, the Journal Sentinel found across eight years there were nearly 200 unintentional shootings involving children statewide. Roughly half occurred in Milwaukee County.

In total, there were 28 unintentional gun deaths of children ages 1 to 17 in Wisconsin between 2004-2022, the most recent year’s data available.

Earlier this year, another child was killed in what prosecutors say was an accidental shooting. Like Daquela, the mother was charged with felony child neglect.

Prosecutors outline mother’s gun purchase, uncle fleeing police

According to the criminal complaint:

King’s grandmother called police just before 9:30 p.m. on April 1 to report that the child had shot himself. Upon police’s arrival, they unsuccessfully attempted to give medical attention to the child and found a gun near his body.

The grandmother later told officers that her son Quintell lived with her and that Daquela and King had lived with them for the last six months.

Daquela was at work when the shooting occurred and rushed home once her mother told her what happened. She told police she purchased the gun found near her son about a month prior and kept it in a cardboard box on the floor of a closet in the home.

Authorities say Quintell fled the house after King was shot. Surveillance footage showed him and another man, unidentified in the compliant, running in an alleyway and the uncle hiding a gun under a garbage can. Later, footage shows them returning to try and find the gun on two occasions, but police had already found it.

Before the shooting, she told police, her brother sent her an Instagram message at about 11:30 a.m. of him holding her gun and another firearm. Daquela told him to “put her shit down”, but he responded with a laughing face emoiji. King could be seen in the background of the video.

She later called her mother and asked her to tell Quintell to stop playing with her gun. The next day, police officers interviewed Daquela again, where she confirmed this information.

“During the interview, Daquela Collins confirmed that it was her responsibility to safeguard her firearm,” the prosecutor writes in the complaint.

Two days after the shooting, police officers located Quintell, and he led them on a car chase that reached over 80 miles per hour. In a later April 4 interview with police, the prosecutor writes Quintell lied to investigators about being at the house when the shooting occurred, hiding a gun, and his knowledge of guns in the house, among other things.

The day before, Quintell’s grandmother told police she had convinced him to come to her home, where he admitted to her he was present at the home when King died, fleeing it and hiding the gun.

Police reviewed text messages between the mother and uncle, showing she purchased guns on behalf of her brother, who is prohibited from owning guns due to previous felonies. The messages are between March 6 and March 30 and, in one, Daquela tells her brother not to leave a gun in the home, because of her son.

The messages are of the two discussing her purchase of a gun and, later, a sale of a weapon.

Daquela is charged with felony child neglect and straw purchasing of a firearm.

Quintell is charged with six felonies: child neglect, two counts of possession of a firearm as a felon, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, fleeing police in a vehicle and second-degree reckless homicide. He also faces a misdemeanor for obstruction of an officer.

This is not the first time the man has faced criminal prosecution. Quintell previously pleaded guilty to two 2022 felonies for fleeing police and 2nd-degree recklessly endangering safety.

Daquela is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in her court case on April 15. Quintell is scheduled for his preliminary hearing the same day.

David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.I