VIRGINIA BEACH — A man was found guilty of felony child abuse on Monday, almost nine months after his 5-year-old grandson accidentally shot himself with a gun the man left on a sofa.
Richard Bauserman, 73, was convicted by Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Salvatore Iaquinto, according to Macie Allen, a spokeswoman for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office. Bauserman didn’t dispute the prosecution’s evidence, Allen said, but had asked the judge to instead find him guilty of the lesser charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which is a misdemeanor.
Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 2. The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
According to a stipulation of the evidence submitted by prosecutors, the incident happened in November at a home off Newtown Road.
Bauserman told officers his adult son had handed him a gun and then went to look for a holster for it. Bauserman said he placed the gun on a sofa, and within seconds, his grandson grabbed it and accidentally shot himself in the hip, the stipulation said. Police learned about the shooting after the boy’s family took him to a hospital for treatment, the stipulation said.
Bauserman also reported that he and his grandson had been playing with a tactical flashlight that looked similar to the gun moments before the shooting. The boy told multiple people afterward that he thought he was grabbing the flashlight, and not a gun, according to the stipulation.
“The events of November 17, 2023, were indeed tragic,” Bauserman’s attorney, Alex Bell, wrote in a statement. “The love Mr. Bauserman has for his grandson is immeasurable and not a day goes by that Mr. Bauserman does not regret what occurred. He sincerely hopes that this situation, particularly his transparency as to how this could have been avoided, will be a lesson to others and prevent such accidents in the future.”
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
