NEWAYGO COUNTY, Mich. — Karl Robart entered a plea of no contest on Monday for what authorities say is his role in the death of their 5-year-old grandson.
Braxton Marvin Scott Dykstra, 5, was visiting his grandparents' home in Garfield Township back in April when he and a 6-year-old relative found a gun in one of the bedrooms. When the 6-year-old boy was holding the gun, it fired and hit Braxton.
Michigan State Police were called to the scene around 3:25 p.m. on April 1. The released police report redacted the names of all children and persons involved. However, the report stated that once inside, troopers found a child dead from a gunshot wound in one of the bedrooms.
One investigator stated in the report that they did not see any type of gun lock or safe capable of storing firearms in the home. The one small safe they found only contained paperwork.
Police interviewed two children who had been present for the shooting. One, a boy, told police he could not remember anything after the children had all been in the bedroom.
A girl who was interviewed told police, "[Redacted] had a gun and I told him to put it down," she continued, "he accidentally pulled the trigger on [Redacted]."
The girl also told police that the child who had the gun had been joking about shooting the third child in the room, but then accidentally pulled the trigger when he was putting the gun down.
The girl told police she believed the shooting had been an accident, saying "[Redacted] said 'sorry' after, but [Redacted] didn't answer because he was dead."
Both Karl Robart and his wife Theresa Robart were charged in connection to Braxton's death. Both of them were charged under Michigan's new safe storage law. The law went into effect in February of this year. Karl and Theresa each face a firearm safe storage with a minor present violation.
The law requires gun owners to keep unattended weapons unloaded and locked in a locked box or container if it is reasonably known that a minor is likely to be present on the premises.
They had several guns that were not stored safely, court documents show.
Initially, the couple both waived preliminary hearings and refused plea deals. Now that Karl has pleaded no contest he is expected to serve a minimum of 19 months to a maximum of 38 months.
A judge will hand him his sentence on Oct. 7.
Theresa will be back in court on August 19.