Dad faces child-endangerment and weapon charges after authorities say son, 4, shot playmate to death
The father of a 4-year-old boy accused of shooting a 6-year-old playmate to death last month is facing multiple charges of child endangerment and one count of enabling access by minors to a loaded firearm.
Anthony Senatore, 33, of Toms River, N.J., is cooperating, says his lawyer, Robert Ebberup, but he criticized the Atlantic County prosecutor’s office for having his client arrested in front of his family as they ate dinner. Ebberup said that Senatore had been cooperating and would have voluntarily turned himself in, according to the Associated Press.
Senatore was subsequently released on $100,000 bail in the Toms River municipal court case, reports New Jersey 101.5, whose call letters are WKXW.
In a prepared statement he read outside his law office on Wednesday, Ebberup said grandstanding by the prosecutor’s office is threatening his client’s right to a fair trial, the radio station recounts.
Authorities say the 4-year-old boy used a loaded .22-caliber rifle he took from a bedroom and fatally wounded a neighbor, Brandon Holt, with a single shot to the head as the two were playing outside.
Ronald Holt, the father of the 6-year-old, told the told the Star-Ledger that he is glad Senatore is being held accountable but it won’t bring his son back.
