Williams

STEUBENVILLE — A Wintersville woman has been charged with child endangerment and obstruction after she allegedly lied about how her 3-year-old son ended up with a fatal gunshot wound Sunday.

The child, identified as Perris Coleman, was shot once in the chest, Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said.

His mother, Kaifia Williams, 30, 719 Douglas Ave., Wintersville, had told authorities the child had been outside playing when a sibling “came inside and said the baby was hurt, so she carried the child inside and called 911 and they told her to put the baby in her car” and meet the ambulance at the Wintersville Kroger.

Williams also told investigators repeatedly she was the only adult in the house, Abdalla said.

He said both stories were inaccurate.

Detectives “recovered evidence that shows the shot was actually fired in the house,” he said, and “also determined there was a man in the house.” He said three other children living in the house told detectives the man who’d been there had fled before they arrived.

“There was never a danger to the community,” Abdalla said. “Had there been, we would have notified them. It didn’t take long for us to figure it out.”

He said they still don’t know how the child came to be shot.

“She won’t say anything,” he said of Williams.

Abdalla said the child’s body was taken to the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office, where an autopsy will be done.

“The people at the hospital, myself, all my deputies … we all had tears in our eyes. It just hurts so damn much,” he said, adding before the child’s transport left, “I blessed the little guy, I gave the sign of the cross and kissed him before he left.”

Williams was arraigned Monday afternoon in Wintersville County Court on the felony charges. Her bond was set at $50,000. Prosecutor Jane Hanlin said charges are pending against Williams’ male companion.