A Detroit-area cop faces criminal charges after his toddler brought a loaded gun to daycare and started passing it around to other children.

A loaded handgun reached other children at a Michigan day care before a staff member stepped in, prosecutors said. The child who pulled it from his backpack was three years old. His father, a Detroit police officer, now faces a child abuse charge, and the boy’s mother faces a separate firearm storage charge.

According to the Associated Press, the incident happened Sept. 28 at Childrens World Early Learning Center in Canton Township. The handgun was in a holster when the boy removed it and passed it to other children, the prosecutor’s office said. Nobody fired the gun, and no one suffered any injuries.

Both parents appeared in court Oct. 1, and a judge released them on bond. Prosecutors charged the officer with fourth-degree child abuse involving the creation of a risk of harm and the other parent with violating Michigan’s firearm storage law.

The judge would not let the officer keep a gun for work

The weapon brought to day care was not the officer’s service firearm. Nevertheless, a judge ordered both parents to surrender their guns while the case proceeds, including the firearm the officer wanted to retain for work.

FOX 2 Detroit identified the parents as Brandon Ely and Rabab Al Zayad. During their court appearance, Ely’s attorney requested an exception that would allow him to keep a work firearm. The judge denied it.

Ely told the court that he had nine guns at home, stored in three safes. The judge set unsecured personal bonds of $10,000 for each parent.

Detroit police said the department placed Ely on administrative duty without a gun while it reviewed the incident. The department said it would hold him accountable if its review found he had violated policy or the law.

“It is very unsettling to think about what may have happened in this case,” Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy said. Her office had handled nearly two dozen gun access cases since 2024, spokesperson Maria Miller said.

Nobody has to be injured for storage charges to apply

Michigan’s secure storage law took effect Feb. 13, 2024. It generally applies when someone leaves a firearm unattended on premises they control and knows, or reasonably should know, that a minor is present or likely to be there.

State guidance gives two storage options.Owners must store the firearm in a locked box or container, or unload it and secure it with a locking device that prevents unauthorized use. A holster alone is not one of those options.

The law allows misdemeanor penalties when a storage violation gives a minor access to a firearm that they possess or display in public. It also covers possession or display around another person in a careless, reckless, or threatening manner. Those provisions do not require someone to fire the weapon or suffer an injury.

Adult responsibility for children’s access to guns has also figured in reporting on the Georgia school shooting and the Virginia case in which a six-year-old shot his teacher. In Canton, prosecutors brought charges after a staff member intervened before the gun discharged.

Worthy had warned about children’s interest in firearms while promoting safe storage in May. “They always know where they are. Always want to pick them up. They always want to play with it. They always want to shoot it,” she said.

Michigan offers free gun locks through county health and human services offices, with some local health departments also participating. Residents can also request them through participating law enforcement agencies.

Neither parent has a conviction in the Canton case. Ely and Al Zayad will return to court Oct. 30, according to local court reporting.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]