Henrico mom wants accountability after son’s death: 'Put your gun up’'
“Mama Bear” wasn’t just a phrase for Monique Richardson. She said she was her five-year-old son Qatif’s fiercest protector.
“He was nonverbal. He couldn't talk, and no one understood him but me,” Richardson said.
When he wasn’t learning at Highland Springs Elementary School, Richardson said Qatif could often be found watching YouTube on his iPad.
On Saturday, Oct. 24, Richardson went to an apartment complex in eastern Henrico for a beauty appointment at a friend’s apartment.
Richardson said Steven Blakeney let her and Qatif inside and saw that her five-year-old son was with her.
Richardson said she was preparing to pay her friend when everything changed.
“I’m taking the stuff out my pocketbook. Asked her, ‘Do she got Apple Pay?’ Next thing I heard was ‘boom,’ and my son was on the floor in a puddle of blood,” Richardson said through tears.
According to Henrico Police, Qatif accidentally shot himself with Blakeney’s gun. The 5-year-old did not survive.
Police charged Blakeney with two misdemeanors: improper storage of firearms and allowing access to firearms by children.
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