NEWAYGO COUNTY, MI - Braxton Dykstra was the spitting image of his father Domynic: loving the outdoors and riding dirt bikes. He also loved making funny noises to make everyone laugh, his father said.
“My dad tells me that (Braxton) was carved out of my butt cheek times 10 on steroids,” Domynic Dykstra said.
Braxton’s father now wants his son to be a symbol of gun safety, as police say the 5-year-old was killed in a shooting by his 6-year-old cousin.
“I want to make an impact so these kids don’t play with firearms,” Dykstra said. “That they know the damage that firearms can do.”
The shooting happened around 3:30 p.m. on Monday, April 1, at a home in Newaygo County’s Garfield Township. Police said a 6-year-old boy and 5-year-old boy found a firearm in their grandparents’ bedroom.
The 6-year-old had the firearm in his possession when it discharged and killed Braxton, police said. Dykstra said the other child was Braxton’s cousin.
The shooting is still under investigation.
Dykstra said his the shooting occurred at a family home, and his 7-year-old daughter was there. Braxton sat down to watch television, and his cousin grabbed the shotgun and told Braxton he was going to shoot him, Dykstra said. That is when his daughter ran for help, he said.
“Before my daughter could get out of the room, that’s when my son was shot,” Dykstra said.
Braxton was not playing with a gun, Dykstra said, adding that he taught all of his four kids, including Braxton’s two sisters and one brother, to not touch or even look at their father’s guns.
New legislation this year required the safe storage of firearms and corresponding ammunition around minors, so Dykstra said his children know that guns are to be “locked up (and) put away.”
Read more: Gun laws are changing in Michigan. Here’s what you need to know.
He knows not every gun owner will obey the law, but he wants gun-owning adults to put guns out of reach when children are visiting. Dykstra said that did not happen on April 1, and the daughter who heard the gunshot is having nightmares.
“She used to fall asleep with her brother every night,” Dykstra said. “They would fall asleep on the couch watching Spiderman or a stupid little YouTube video. Now she doesn’t have that comfort of sleeping with a brother no more.”
The shooting was “150,000,000% preventable,” he said. He wants to create legislation called “Braxton’s Law” that takes safe storage laws further, as well as get involved in gun safety training.
“I want to try and get involved with either state police or the county sheriff’s department to get my license as an instructor,” he said.
“I want to help,” he added.
As well as inspiring more gun safety, Dykstra wants to remember Braxton for his laugh.
“He would run around like a weirdo and a little dork and he was just that,” Dykstra said. “His laugh was just really contagious.”