On February 12, 2022, a Johnston teenager was found dead at the home of Marios Kirios, 29, also from Johnston. Investigators are calling his death, by firearm, an accident. Police have charged Kirios with four misdemeanor accounts of violating state law on the safe storage of firearms; police say Kirios was not present when the accident occured.
RI Law Would Increase Penalties for Failing to Properly Store Firearms
Rep. Justine Caldwell has again submitted a bill that would make failure to safely storage firearms a felony. In addition, this bill would:
- Raise the age of a child from 16 to 18 (the slain teen has been reported to be between the ages of 15 and 16)
- Increase penalties for conviction of injury or death of a child from an improperly stored firearm to a fine of not more than $5,000, or imprisonment of up to 5 years, or both
- Define unsafely storing a firearm as a violation of the law that is punishable by a fine of not more than $3,000
Reasonable exceptions are included in the bill.
Additional Legal Troubles
Kirios is being held without bail “as a violator of his probation on a fraudulent checks case for which he was making monthly payments on $32,000 restitution.”
It has been reported that the gun was owned legally. However Kirios had pleaded no contest in the fraudulent checks case and has been serving five years of probation, which began in April of 2019.
Former head of the RI State Police, Steven O’Donnell, now a 12 News Law Enforcement Analyst said “If they believe a five-year probation is a conviction … he could be charged with federal crimes.”
