Cape Coral father accused of putting loaded gun in child's backpack appears in court

James Wilson appeared in court Friday, facing charges related to an incident involving his five-year-old son at Trafalgar Elementary School.

His wife and friends were present to support him during the hearing Friday morning. 

"This is a mistake and error on his part," said Wilson's wife. "It's not excusable, but he's human—and everybody has done something that they regret."

She also expressed that Wilson did not intentionally put their son in harm's way.

The situation unfolded when Wilson's son walked through the OpenGate weapons detection system at the school on Thursday morning. The system alerted law enforcement to search the child's backpack, where a loaded gun was discovered. Authorities said the child was isolated upon finding the handgun, and he was unaware of its presence in his backpack.

An investigation revealed that Wilson admitted to placing the gun in the backpack with the intention of moving it to his car, but he forgot to remove it.

Wilson now faces a felony charge for child neglect and a misdemeanor charge for improper storage of a firearm. In court, the defense argued against the probable cause for the misdemeanor charge, but Judge Maria Gonzalez disagreed.

"I read the probable cause affidavit, and this is one of those incredibly scary situations that, thank God, did not end up in a worse situation," said Judge Gonzalez.

Wilson is being held on bond for both charges. He has been ordered to avoid unsupervised contact with his son and to stay away from all elementary schools, including Trafalgar Elementary. His next court date is scheduled for Feb. 9.

WINK News will continue to provide updates on this case.