Aurora woman, boyfriend charged after 5-year-old girl finds gun, shoots it

 

The Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney's office filed misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child in the second degree charges against an Aurora woman and her boyfriend after the woman's 5-year-old daughter found a gun and shot it.

According to the probable cause statement, before the incident Veronica Lynn Bradley (DOB 2005) and her boyfriend, Timothy Gilliam (DOB 2000), had told Children's Division that there were no firearms in the department.

From Gilliam's probable cause statement:

On 01/08/2026, I received information from the Missouri Children's Division regarding a recent
incident at a local apartment complex in Aurora. A 5-year-old female child, while unsupervised,
had discovered a firearm and discharged it inside her family's apartment. I initiated an
investigation.

It was determined the apartment was inhabited by Veronica Bradley and her boyfriend, Timothy Gilliam. Veronica's three young children lived at the apartment on a part-time basis. The children involved are a 5-year-old female, identified as CV1, and a 3-year-old male, identified as CV2.

When contacted by police and Children's Division, CV1 refused to talk about the incident but confirmed a firearm-related event had occurred at her mother’s residence. She confirmed it was an accident. I also spoke with a witness to whom Veronica had disclosed the incident. That information was further corroborated by Veronica's neighbor, who reported hearing a gunshot on or about the early morning hours of 12/29/2025.

During the investigation, I learned Veronica and Timothy were recently investigated by Children's Division (CD) on unrelated matters, and they led CD to believe there were no firearms in the residence. 

When news of the shooting incident surfaced several days after it had occurred, Veronica and Timothy were contacted at the apartment by on-duty patrol officers.

They denied any shooting incident had taken place.

I visited Veronica and Timothy at their apartment on 01/09/2026. Timothy admitted there were firearms inside the residence. Timothy allowed me to view the firearms, which I identified as a Hi-Point 9mm and a Raven Arms .25 caliber pistol. Timothy retrieved the firearms from a lockbox in the laundry room and repeatedly denied that any of the firearms had been fired inside the apartment. He became agitated during questioning and his statements appeared untruthful.

I spoke with Veronica Bradley away from Timothy, and she emotionally admitted the incident had occurred and she explained it in detail. She and Timothy left CV1 and CV2 unsupervised in their bedroom while they were in the bathroom with their other child. The children were last seen playing on the floor. 

At some point, CV1 retrieved the Raven Arms .25 Caliber pistol from Timothy's night stand drawer and fired a single round into the wall. In response, they removed the firearms from the room and purchased the lock box a few days later. 

I was given consent to search/examine the bedroom where the shooting occurred, and the bullet hole and other evidence corroborated Veronica's statement.

This is the second incident investigated by the Aurora Police Department in recent months concerning Veronica Bradley and Timothy Gilliam's child supervision abilities. On 09/24/2025, Veronica left CV2 in Timothy's care while she was out. 

While unsupervised, the 3-year-old child, wearing only a onesie, exited the apartment and walked the streets in the rain. Good Samaritans located him approximately 0.6 miles away (by car) at 535 S. Lincoln Avenue, walking in the middle of the roadway. Police took custody of the child and transported him to headquarters while the incident was investigated and efforts were made to confirm his identity.

Approximately 1.5 hours later, officers noticed a group of people searching for the child in the
neighborhood. Timothy was among them. He did not report the child missing and provided misleading information to officers throughout the investigation. He claimed the child escaped while he was in the bathroom and had only been missing approximately 30 minutes. 

A family member later reported Timothy was in bed upstairs while the child was left unsupervised in the
downstairs living room.

The case was investigated by the Aurora Police Department.