‘PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — A Bremerton couple are in court Thursday answering assault charges in connection with the gun that wounded an 8-year-old girl in a classroom.
Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge (HOG’-ee) initially charged Jamie Lee Chaffin and Douglas L. Bauer with unlawful possession of a firearm but filed felony assault charges Tuesday that could bring prison sentences of up to five years in prison.
Chaffin is the mother of the 9-year-old boy who took the gun to Armin Jahr Elementary on Feb. 22 in a backpack. It fired when he put the backpack on a desk, nearly killing Amina Kocer-Bowmen, who remains in a Seattle hospital.
Investigators believe the boy took the Bauer’s .45-caliber handgun from a car glove box when he was visiting his mother and her boyfriend.