Man chased, hurt his kids with air soft gun

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - A man was sentenced Monday for using a BB gun to harm children.

According to court documents, in August officers received information from a woman who said she had seen a bruise on the stomach of her 7-year-old granddaughter. The girl had told her grandmother she got the bruise when her father put a BB gun to her stomach and pushed her with it a few days earlier.

The girl also told her grandmother that her father, 28-year-old Justin Adams, had shot her 3-year-old brother with the BB gun in the buttocks.

The 7-year-old girl also confirmed the violence in forensic interviews, in which she described going into a bedroom while her dad was busy. She said her dad got mad when he found her in the room, picked up a BB gun and shoved it into her stomach, forcibly pushing her into the corner of a closet. The girl told investigators it hurt and scared her. Investigators confirmed there was a bruise on the girl’s stomach that appeared consistent with a gun’s muzzle.

The girl then told investigators her dad had chased her and her little brother, shooting her brother several times. She said the two kids hid in a closet and her dad shot multiple times into the closet door.

Investigators also conducted a forensic interview of the 3-year-old boy, who said his dad had shot him in the bottom with a pellet gun. The boy said it hurt and he had cried. Investigators found bruising on the boy’s buttocks where he said he was shot.

Investigators then interviewed the wife of Justin Adams. She said she was aware Justin was shooting the gun at the kids, had shoved the gun into the girl’s stomach and had hit the boy on the bottom with a projectile. She gave officers permission to check the home and an air soft rifle was found behind the couch.

Investigators also observed indentations in the wood of a closet door that appeared to have been made when Adams shot into the door. Furthermore, they found one of the pellets lying on the carpet in the room.

Investigators interviewed the defendant, Adams, and he admitted to causing the bruise to his daughter’s stomach when he pushed her with the gun, but claimed he had used the butt of the gun.

Adams also admitted to shooting at the closet door while the children were hiding inside, and said he could hear them screaming while he was shooting the door.

He also acknowledged shooting the 3-year-old boy in the bottom, but said it was an accident.

Adams was sentenced Monday to 3 years: 256 days of which has been executed with the time served, and the balance on probation. He was also ordered to have a mental health evaluation and also to follow through with any recommended classes and proper supervised visitation with his children. He was also ordered to obtain his G.E.D.