Kansas parents face charges of aggravated child endangerment after one of their young children found a loaded, unsecured shotgun at the family home in Brookville and shot dead two siblings, aged five and eight, in late March.
Aaron French, 37, and Makayla French, 28, each face four counts of aggravated child endangerment in connection with the deaths of their children Paxton French, 8, and Lilly French, 5. The Ellsworth County Attorney filed the charges on Friday following a joint investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office, according to a KBI press release dated 10 July 2026.
The shooting occurred on 28 March at the family’s home in Brookville, a small Salina-area community approximately 100 miles northwest of Wichita. A child described by investigators only as a ‘young child’ got hold of the loaded shotgun, which was not properly secured. Lilly was pronounced dead at the scene. Paxton was airlifted to a hospital in Wichita, where he died on 3 April, almost a week after the shooting, according to KSN News.
Investigators have not disclosed how the child located the weapon or how many shots were fired.
Kansas Parents Face Charges of ‘Reckless’ Endangerment
The charge documents allege that Aaron and Makayla French ‘recklessly’ placed their children in danger of physical harm. Aggravated child endangerment is a felony offence under Kansas law. The couple have been ordered to appear in court on 28 July, per KSN News.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation confirmed the joint investigation in its official press release but gave no further detail on how the weapon came to be accessible to the child. No information has been released about whether the shotgun was legally owned or how it was stored.
The Children Who Died
Paxton French, who turned eight before the shooting, had hoped one day to join the US Army. His obituary described a boy who loved riding his go-kart and four-wheeler, and who spent hours playing Minecraft with his siblings.
‘He loved playing Minecraft, especially when he could share that time with his siblings, laughing, building, and creating worlds together. He had a special love for his hamster, showing a gentle and caring heart in the way he took care of his little companion,’ the obituary said.
Lilly French was five years old. She died at the scene before emergency services could intervene.
Unsecured Firearms and Child Safety Law in Kansas
Kansas does not have a dedicated child access prevention law that imposes criminal liability solely on the basis of a child accessing an unsecured firearm. Prosecutors in this case have instead relied on the state’s aggravated child endangerment statute, which carries felony-level penalties and is broad enough to encompass reckless conduct that exposes a child to the risk of physical harm.
Four counts were filed against each parent: two counts are understood to relate to the children who died, while the remaining two are believed to concern other children in the household who were placed at risk. Prosecutors have not publicly clarified the precise basis for each count.
Child firearm fatalities in the United States frequently result in charges framed around neglect or endangerment statutes rather than weapons offences, because few states impose strict liability for unsecured storage. The outcome of the French case will turn on whether the prosecution can establish that the parents’ conduct met the threshold for recklessness under Kansas courts’ interpretation of the endangerment statute, and whether the defence can argue that any precautions taken, however inadequate in hindsight, fell short of the reckless standard the statute requires.
Aaron and Makayla French are due before the Ellsworth County court on 28 July. Subject to any developments at that hearing, the case will proceed through the Kansas district court system. No trial date has been set.
