Family of Jenesis Dockery files lawsuit against babysitter whose son fired the deadly shot

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- A family in Fayetteville has filed a lawsuit nearly two years after an 8-year-old girl died after being shot by the babysitter's son.

Jenesis Dockery was at her babysitter's home in Fayetteville when she was shot and killed on July 27, 2023. It's believed the 8-year-old was hit accidentally after the gun fell from a closet or while the babysitter's 11-year-old son was handling the gun that he took from his grandfather's house.

Tuesday, the family is calling for accountability and has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against that babysitter, Chrystle Michael, and the gun's owner, Thomas Michel. The lawsuit alleges both owned and failed to secure the Phoenix Arms Raven .25 automatic pistol used in the shooting. It also states Thomas Michael failed to report the gun lost or stolen before the incident.

"Our family has been changed forever by a tragedy that was very well preventable. Irresponsibility, negligence," said Fon Dockery, the father of Jenesis Dockery. "We stand here today to own up to our human responsibility, our parental responsibility to ask for justice and transparency for the life, the light, and the advocacy of Jenesis Dockery."

Dockery's family says the babysitter was a longtime friend of the family and had cared for Jenesis and her young sister multiple times.

"Jenesis was so full of joy and light and the pain we feel never gets any easier to bear," said Jenesis' father, Jon Dockery. "Today is about doing something with that hurt so that no family ever has to feel it again."

"The simple fact is that, if either Chrystle or Thomas Michael had taken their responsibilities seriously, Jenesis would be alive today," said Daniels. "If Chrystle Michael had been supervising the children in her charge, she could have stopped her son from pulling the trigger. If Thomas Michael had secured his guns, there would have been nothing to shoot. Yet, somehow, neither of them have been charged for their negligence."

"It's time they faced some consequences for their actions."

The Dockery family is represented by renowned national civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Chimeaka White.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said it determined that the 11-year-old should face manslaughter charges. The boy was taken into custody but has since been released back with his family, according to Daniels.

Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West told ABC11 the juvenile's criminal charges have been resolved.

"We really want to see change," Dockery said. "The truth is, before Jenesis passed, there were many other children that passed. And if we're not careful, the rate that children are passing is going to stay the same."

In a news release, the attorneys say, that since Jenesis' death, multiple children have been killed by unsecured firearms including two already in 2025.

On January 23, 2025, a 7-year-old in Kannapolis, NC was shot and killed by her sibling.

February 28, 2025, a 5-year-old girl died after being shot by another child who was playing with a gun inside a home. ABC11 covered the incident which happened in Henderson. The child who fired the gun was just 3 years old, Henderson police confirmed.

Henderson Police Department said the 3-year-old got a hold of an unsecured gun and fired it at the 5-year-old. First responders provided medical assistance after arriving on the scene but were unable to save the child.

24-year-old Morgan Deans was charged in the investigation for failing to secure a 9mm handgun. She was given a $6,000 unsecured bond, Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow said.