CANTON ‒ A woman indicted in connection with the accidental shooting death of a 6-year-old boy is charged with fewer criminal offenses than she originally faced.
A Stark County grand jury indicted Brittany A. Franko, 29, on Tuesday on a single charge of obstructing official business.
The Stark County Sheriff's Office initially charged her with complicity to reckless homicide, child endangering and obstructing official business after Ka'Marion Dolch was shot in the Knights Inn motel in Plain Township.
She is accused of lying to investigators about what happened in the June 21 incident.
The boy's father, William B. Dolch, 37, is accused of allowing Ka'Marion to be in a motel room with a loaded gun that discharged and killed him.
The indictment filed against Dolch includes a specification alleging that a gun was used in the crime of reckless homicide, a specification that was not part of the charges initially filed by the sheriff's office in Canton Municipal Court. The indictment also charges him with endangering children, evidence tampering and having weapons under disability in connection with the death of his son.
The gun fired accidentally when the victim's father tried to move it from a nightstand, sheriff's Detective Timothy Hostetler said during a Canton Municipal Court hearing on July 1.
"It went off, striking the child," Hostetler said. "Then the gun was removed from the room and taken to various different places to be hidden."
Stark detective: Father who accidentally shot son was moving gun inside motel room
Hostetler said Dolch told him the gun was in his hand when it fired.
Joseph E. King, 33 , was indicted on a charge of tampering with evidence, the same charge initially filed by the sheriff's office. He is accused of tampering with the gun that killed the boy.
Franko and King are listed in court records as living in the Belden Village-area motel where the shooting occurred at 3950 Convenience Circle NW. Dolch lives in Akron.
Tragic death: Third person charged in case of fatal shooting of boy at Plain Township motel
The indictments list a birthdate for Ka'Marion that indicates he was 6 years old when he died. Authorities reported the Cleveland boy's age as 7 immediately after the shooting. He would have turned 7 on Aug. 27.
A message seeking comment was left for Dolch's attorney on Wednesday. No attorneys were listed in court records for King and Franko.
Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County grand jury indicts 3 people in shooting death of 6-year-old boy
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