Federal prosecutors separately accused him of illegally having the pistol.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Nashville man is facing a criminal homicide charge after police said his 6-year-old son was fatally shot inside their home when the father fell asleep with a pistol in his pocket, turning a Saturday afternoon emergency into parallel state and federal cases.
The case now reaches beyond the first local arrest that followed the shooting. Metropolitan Nashville Police first booked Steven Lamont Phillips, 56, on charges of aggravated child neglect and unlawful gun possession by a convicted felon. After the boy died late March 30, police said a criminal homicide warrant was issued on April 1. A day later, federal prosecutors filed a separate felon in possession case. Together, the filings place the father at the center of two investigations while several basic questions about exactly how the child got the gun remain unanswered.
Police said the shooting happened Saturday afternoon, March 28, inside a home in the 3100 block of Qualynn Drive. In an initial police account, Phillips told detectives he had been playing with his son in the living room before he “fell asleep with a pistol in his pocket.” He said he woke up to the sound of a gunshot, saw that the boy had been wounded and yelled for a relative to call 911. Officers who arrived at the home recovered the gun from the living room floor, according to police. Nashville Fire Department crews took the child to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in extremely critical condition with a head wound. For two days, the public case was framed as a grave child injury tied to an unsecured firearm. That changed late Monday afternoon, when the boy died and the investigation moved from child neglect and gun possession allegations to a homicide case.
Federal prosecutors added more detail to the sequence in a charging announcement filed April 2. They said Phillips told officers that he found the gun outside on the morning of the shooting, put it in his pocket and went back into the house, where he later fell asleep on the living room floor after playing with his son. Prosecutors said he woke up to a gunshot and a muzzle flash. The federal filing identified the weapon as a Kel-Tec CNC Inc. model P3AT .380 auto caliber pistol. It also said officers found the child, identified as S.R. in court papers, unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head. But major gaps remain in the public record. Authorities have not publicly said exactly when the pistol moved from Phillips’ pocket to a place where the child could reach it. They also have not publicly described whether the gun had been reported stolen before Phillips said he found it outside or whether any forensic review has clarified the exact moment it discharged.
The case has drawn attention in Nashville not only because a small child died inside his own home, but also because it sits inside a wider local problem of guns moving through unsafe or unlawful hands. On April 2, the police department said 153 guns had been stolen from vehicles in Nashville so far this year and that 235 guns had been reported stolen across Davidson County, with 65% of them taken from autos. Phillips told officers he found this pistol outside before bringing it indoors, a detail that has not been fully explained in public releases but that places the case inside a broader pattern of unsecured guns circulating in the city. State data adds another layer to that context. A Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth snapshot says firearms have become the leading cause of death among children and teens ages 1 through 17 in the state. In that setting, the death on Qualynn Drive is both a single family’s loss and a case unfolding against a well documented public safety backdrop.
The legal posture changed quickly as the child’s condition worsened. Police said Phillips was booked Sunday morning on aggravated child neglect and unlawful gun possession by a convicted felon, and a judicial commissioner set bond at $75,000. After the boy died, police said Youth Services Division detectives took over the upgraded homicide investigation. The father now faces a state criminal homicide allegation while also confronting a separate federal firearms charge that does not depend on the homicide case being resolved first. In the federal case, prosecutors said Phillips could not lawfully possess any gun because of prior convictions in Davidson County Criminal Court for aggravated robbery, possession of a weapon by a previously convicted felon and attempted theft over $10,000 but under $60,000. Authorities also said he was on probation for that attempted theft conviction when the shooting happened. Federal prosecutors said the gun charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he is convicted. Public releases through Friday did not list a trial date or a full schedule of upcoming hearings in either court.
Outside the charging papers, the child’s family has put a name and a life story next to the official initials in court documents. Relatives identified him as Steven Lamont Ricks and said everyone called him Junebug. His siblings told local television that he was the youngest of 12 children and the baby of the family. They said he was autistic, loved noodles, dinosaurs and his tablet, and had a smile that changed the mood in a room. His sister, Jaylia Hurtch, said he “brought a lot of light into our family” and described the shock of learning he had been shot. Another family statement called him “our joy, our light, our whole heart.” Those memories stand in sharp contrast to the bare language of the police and court records, which focus on the father’s criminal history, the location of the gun and the narrow timeline inside the living room. They also explain why the case has resonated beyond the charge sheet, because for relatives the story is not only about the path of a pistol, but about the loss of a boy they had expected to grow up.
As of Friday, Phillips was accused in both a Nashville homicide case and a separate federal gun prosecution. Police still have not publicly answered exactly how the pistol came within the child’s reach. The next visible movement in the case is expected to come through early court appearances and additional filings.
Author note: Last updated April 4, 2026.