5-year-old boy doing homework after school finds dad's gun and shoots himself in the head: Cops

Background: The house in Memphis, Tenn., where authorities say the shooting took place (Google Maps). Inset: Marquavious Washington (Shelby County Sheriff's Office).

A man in Tennessee is behind bars after authorities say his 5-year-old son got home from school, found his father's gun, and shot himself in the head.

Marquavious Washington, 24, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of the child, Tamir Washington, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime. The defendant also stands charged with aggravated child abuse and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.

On Monday afternoon, Tamir was at his home on Baysweet Drive in Memphis, Tennessee. His mother, Rodnesha Walker, told local NBC affiliate WMC that he had just come home from school, and he was doing his homework and eating.

Then, he apparently went into a room with his brother.

Tamir found his father's firearm and shot himself in the head, according to an affidavit of complaint. Deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff's Office responded to the area and found a chaotic scene.

They saw Tamir "laying on the ground bleeding from his head" and "moaning and moving." One officer held a towel to put pressure on the wound, but the "bleeding was severe."

"The wound appeared consistent with a gun shot wound to the head," the court document added.

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Emergency personnel arrived and cared for the child before bringing him to a nearby children's hospital. He was pronounced dead less than an hour after police first arrived at the home.

Washington — the defendant — was reportedly "standing in the front yard" and "yelling about how he did not know how Tamir Washington had found his gun." Walker, Tamir's mother, was walking around "frantic and screaming" and "covered in blood."

Neighbors tried to help the family. One told officers that she was inside her home when she heard "a loud knocking on her door" and saw the scene in the front yard. She said she heard someone say, "He shot himself."

When deputies entered the house, they found a black handgun on a bed in a bedroom. There was also "a large amount of blood on the floor of the residence."

Officers arrested Washington and booked him into the Shelby County Jail. He is being held on $100,000 bond and is due in court on Thursday.

Tamir had reportedly just started the school year two weeks before.