Three-year-old Tatum Monique Grace Johnson died on August 12, 2026, in Opelousas, Louisiana, from a gunshot wound to the head. The shooting happened about 11 p.m. near Kim Drive and Mia Street. Investigators with the Opelousas Police Department concluded the shooting was not viewed as an intentional attack but as the result of a negligent discharge after Tatum reportedly found a loaded handgun inside a parked car her father had driven to the residence.

The investigation focused on Tatum’s father, 30-year-old Lydell Rubin Jr. of Opelousas. Rubin is a convicted felon and therefore prohibited from possessing firearms. He was arrested and booked into the St. Landry Parish Jail, charged with negligent homicide and illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. After initially taking Tatum to a hospital, Rubin later left the medical facility and subsequently turned himself in.

The family and community are left to grieve a child killed in an incident described by police as the consequence of unsecured gun access and alleged negligence. Does anyone have information about the circumstances around that parked car or the events that night?