Maryland man charged with leaving loaded gun accessible to 7-year-old boy

A man is facing charges of leaving a gun accessible to the 7-year-old boy who was injured after taking the gun to an Anne Arundel County school in Maryland.

The child brought the handgun into school Wednesday and suffered a non-life-threatening injury to one of his hands when it went off.

Eashan John Stefanski, 34, of Pasadena, Maryland, 18 miles south of Baltimore, now faces charges for leaving a loaded firearm accessible to a minor, the Anne Arundel County Police Department said.

Police said the suspect, who is an Army staff sergeant, is the boyfriend of the injured child’s mother, according to Baltimore’s WJZ-TV. 

During their investigation, detectives found a handgun in Sgt. Stefanski’s car. At his home, they found an unloaded rifle with a gunlock and two unloaded handguns in locked gun boxes along with keys to the locks, plus another unloaded pistol under a mattress, according to charging documents cited by The Baltimore Banner.

Detectives also found a gun box containing a lock, keys and a loaded magazine, and determined it was the box that held the Glock 27 handgun that the 7-year-old took to school, according to the documents cited by the newspaper.

The firearms charge against Sgt. Stefanski is a misdemeanor, according to court records. The records do not say when the suspect, who received a criminal summons Thursday, is next due to appear in court.

Sgt. Stenandsk is part of the Army’s Baltimore Recruiting Battalion. Army recruiting spokeswoman Madison Bonzo told Baltimore’s WBFF-TV that he’s suspended pending the results of the law enforcement investigation.

No injuries were suffered by the 15 other children who were in the second-grade classroom at Freetown Elementary School in Glen Burnie, Maryland, at the time of the incident. The school closed Wednesday and reopened Thursday.