HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A Hollywood man is speaking out after, police said, his 5-year-old son accidentally shot himself with a loaded gun his father had left unattended.
Travoynne Martin Sr. spoke with 7News on Thursday, shortly after he was released from jail on bond.
Showing pictures of his children, he said they are his life.
“This is [my son] when he graduated pre-K, and I stood in the crowd screaming as aloud as I could, ‘That’s my baby,'” he said. “So this baby’s all I got, man, but right now, I feel like I ain’t got nothing.”
On New Year’s Day, this family’s lives changed when, police said, Martin’s son, Travoynne Jr., injured himself with his father’s GX4 handgun.
According to the arrest report, Martin and his family arrived at their home along Pierce Street from eating dinner, at around 10 p.m.
The report states Martin went to sit down on the couch to watch TV and placed his gun on the living room table in its holster. That’s when his son got a hold of the firearm.
Shortly after, the arrest report states, Martin heard two loud bangs, and his son fell onto him onto him and screamed, “I’m sorry,” as he bled from his left arm.
“All I know is without him, I wouldn’t be nothing,” said Martin.
The child’s parents took him to a local hospital where police made contact with the family. When they interviewed the family, the mother said she was initially unaware of what had happened due to being in another room at the time.
As police searched the family’s home, they found eight weapons, all of which were fully loaded and not secured with the exception of one. The guns were removed from the home.
Martin told police he keeps his gun unloaded on the top shelf of his closet and only leaves the guns out if he is going to clean them.
Now he is facing charges of child neglect with great bodily harm and culpable negligence.
Martin told 7News there is nothing neglectful about the way he treats his children.
When asked whether he feels remorse about leaving the gun unattended, he replied, “I was in jail, my son asked, ‘Can I come to jail with you?’ He don’t know what jail is. Know what he wants? Just to be next to his dad,” he said. “We can make assumptions, we can accuse, we can do whatever, but at the end of the day, I make this little boy happy, and he make me happy.”
Showing pictures of his son, Martin said, “He’s very smart, he’s caring, he don’t mind sharing. He taught me how to let go. Don’t hold no grudges. Be happy. Be thankful.”
During Martin’s court appearance on Thursday, the mother of his son spoke in his defense.
“I just wanted to say he’s a great father,” she said. “We always put our heads together. I just – I don’t know, but he really, really loves his child.”
A judge ordered Martin to pay $20,000 and only have contact with his son through FaceTime.
“I don’t think he should stay away from his child,” said the boy’s mother in court. “I’m just saying.”
The judge also prohibited Martin from possessing any guns and to have a level 2 GPS monitor with an open schedule.
“It’s confusing. You feel lost,” said Martin as he held up a picture of his son. “To wake up every day with that smile, and to come home and he’s not there, it’s not the same feeling. I still feel like I’m in jail, man.”
Martin has one prior arrest from 2014, but he is not a convicted felon, and he legally owned the gun involved in the New Year’s Day shooting.
He told 7News he is remorseful, but there’s one thing that he is not, and that’s a bad father.
“I do feel homeless. I am homeless. What’s a home without everybody that you love?” he said.
Martin said his son underwent surgery on his left arm and is expected to be OK. The child has since been released from the hospital and continues to recover.
The Florida Department of Children and Families separated the family from the boy after the incident happened, but on Thursday afternoon, a representative with DCF showed up at their Hollywood home and met with them for about 30 minutes.
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