ST. LOUIS - Jurors returned a not-guilty verdict for a St. Louis man accused of being responsible for the accidental shooting death of an 11-year-old boy with autism.

Court records say jurors deliberated for almost three hours before making their decision to acquit Tracy T. Smith, 37, for first-degree fatal child endangerment and first-degree involuntary manslaughter.

The incident happened in 2023 at a home in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, when the son of Smith's girlfriend, David Winston, shot himself with a .38-caliber revolver. Officials say Winston—who had autism—discovered Smith's gun in the bedroom.

Court records say Winston was taken to the hospital but died from his injuries.

When investigators questioned Smith and the boy's mother about the accidental shooting, they told officials that the child "often watched television in his bedroom alone and got into things when unsupervised."

During their investigation, detectives say the defendant did not have a gun safe or lock but instead kept the weapon in an unsecured place.

Smith's lawyer, Matthew Radefeld, argued that his client couldn't have known of the potential dangers, alleging that Smith's then-girlfriend knew the gun was stored in the bedroom but made the choice to lock the 11-year-old in the room while she was working.

“The fact is, the prosecutors have put the wrong man on trial here,” Radefeld said.