A 22-year-old East Orange woman arrested after her 5-year-old son accidentally shot and killed his younger sibling, pleaded not guilty when she appeared before Superior Court Judge Ronald Wigler today.
Itiyanah Spruill's attorney filed not guilty pleas to charges of child endangerment and weapons offenses and requested permission for Spruill to attend the funeral of her 4-year-old son this Friday.
Spruill's bail remained at $310,000, although her attorney is expected to file a motion for a bail reduction.
On Saturday, East Orange police officers were dispatched to a home on the 100 block of Norman Street shortly before 11 a.m., where officers discovered that Spruill's five year old son accidentally shot his four year old brother while they were playing with their mother's gun.
The child, was rushed to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead at 4:26 p.m., according to Chief Assistant
Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly of the Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit.
The investigation is being conducted by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Major Crimes Task Force, which includes detectives from the East Orange Police Department.