Avis Damone Coward, Felon in Possession of Firearm, Lansing MI, 2024

Avis Damone Coward, 26, is facing new charges in connection with the accidental discharge of a gun that led to the death of a two-year-old child in Lansing, Michigan. The child’s death reflects a larger crisis: gun violence has now become the #1 cause of death among children and teenagers, according to U.S. Attorney Mark Totten.

Coward was previously charged in a complaint that alleged an accidental discharge of his gun led to the child’s death. The new indictment charges Coward with being a felon in possession of a firearm, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, and tampering with evidence.

Two other Lansing residents, Emma Huver, 26, and Gina Schieberl, 26, were also charged in the indictment. Huver is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, while Schieberl is charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence and tampering with evidence.

According to the indictment, on October 24, 2023, Coward got out of a car at a Lansing gas station and left a two-year-old child and his mother, Huver, in the car. Surveillance video showed a bullet hole appearing in the car window a minute later. The mother got out of the car holding her child, who had blood on his face from a gunshot wound.

Coward’s gun fell out of the car, and Huver handed the child to Coward, who then passed the child to a third person who took the victim into the gas station and attempted to control the bleeding until medical personnel arrived. Coward returned to the car, picked up the gun off the ground, and put it back in the car. The surveillance video also showed Coward use his hand to break out the front passenger window, which had the bullet hole. Coward then drove away.

The child later died from his injuries. The tampering charges concern attempts by Coward and Schieberl to hide or destroy evidence in this case, including the car, which was later found burned-out and abandoned in a field in Lansing, and a .45 caliber Springfield Armory semiautomatic pistol, the barrel of which was found disassembled and hidden in the wall of a house in Lansing.

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