Father denied bond, charged with murder after 2-year-old shoots, kills himself

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County father remains in jail after a judge ruled he cannot bond out following the accidental death of his two-year-old son, who authorities say fatally shot himself with a gun left unsecured by the father.

The first court appearance took place at the Magistrate Courthouse on Thursday.

The judge did not have the authority to issue a bond due to the serious nature of the charges faced by the father.

DeKalb County Magistrate Judge Cinque Axam conducted Thursday’s first appearances virtually.

The father, Michael Labiron, appeared first, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit.

Labiron’s attorney, Hunter Carter, waived the formal reading of the charges.

“I did read his warrants to him,” Carter said in court.

DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston said she does not believe Labiron killed his son intentionally when police responded to a home on Shamrock Drive on Wednesday evening.

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However, she charged him with felony murder and cruelty to children due to rising negligence cases in the county.

Boston emphasized the alarming increase in child deaths caused by parents’ failure to secure firearms, stating that more children have died in the past six months than in the last six years.

“When you leave a real firearm loaded, just laying around – most children don’t know they’re picking up an instrument of death,” Boston said.

To tackle this issue, all gun owners in DeKalb can obtain a free gun lock from the courthouse on North McDonough Street.

They are also distributing a limited number of gun safes for cars.

Boston hopes parents take advantage of these resources to prevent similar tragedies.

“It doesn’t bring us any pleasure but at the same time we have to hold people accountable,” Boston said, acknowledging the difficult decision to keep the father in jail until a Superior Court judge decides on a bond.

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