Every year, nearly 3000 children and teens die from gunfire, and nearly 14,000 are injured.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

6 year old Indiana boy shoots 13 year old sibling with M-4 belonging to his father

In a senseless shooting a 6 year old Indiana boy got hold of his father's M-4 assault rifle and shot and killed his 13 year old brother. From an article:
Felony charges have been filed against a local man in the accidental shooting that killed a Greensburg teen.
Jason L. Forshee, 34, was arrested and charged Friday with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Class A felony, and dangerous control of a child, a Class C felony.
Craig A. Roberts, 13, was accidentally shot at his home on North Carver Street on the afternoon of March 11 when a sibling picked up an M4 assault rifle that authorities allege Forshee had left unattended. The sibling pointed the rifle at Craig in the living room of the home. The weapon discharged, and a bullet struck the teen in the chest. Craig died at Decatur County Memorial Hospital that evening.
Court documents state that Forshee told police he was cleaning the weapon and had removed the magazine. He was unaware a bullet was in the chamber. Forshee left the room briefly to talk to Craig's mom, Amy Roberts. While out of the room, a 6-year-old picked up the weapon and accidentally fired it.
Forshee said he heard a “pop” while he was out of the room. Seeing Craig had been shot, Forshee applied pressure to the boy’s wound while the mother called 911.
Forshee told police he could not explain how the bullet was in the chamber. He was out of the room approximately 10 to 15 seconds, he said.
A short time before the shooting, Forshee had shown the rifle to a plumber at the home. The 6-year-old asked to see the weapon, and Forshee handed him the gun, according to court documents.
A child visiting the home shared by Amy Roberts, Jason Forshee, Craig and his two siblings March 11 told police that the 6-year-old had pointed the same rifle at her and another child through a laundry room window that day.
Interviews with a child and Craig's mother indicated Forshee had previously let the 6-year-old hold the weapon.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

16 year old Tennessee boy shot in head accidentally by friend

Two Tennessee teens were playing "army" when one of the teens shot the other in the head:
A teen told police he accidentally shot his friend while they were “playing army” in his home in Knoxville.
Kenneith Lampkin, 16, of the North Side died at 12:55 a.m. Monday in UPMC Mercy, where he was taken after the shooting that police say occurred at 5:29 p.m. Saturday in a home on Zara Street, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said.
Joseph Robinson Jr., 16, was arrested on Sunday on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence and firearms violations. Robinson, charged as an adult, told police “he accidentally shot the victim while pointing a gun at him and having his finger on the trigger,” the criminal complaint states.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Connecticut teen and half brother shot near a school

One boy is dead and his half brother is injured in a shooting outside of a school in Hamden, Connecticut. From an article:
Two teens were shot, one killed, shortly before 9 p.m. Monday near Butler and Lilac streets, police spokesman Officer David Hartman said.
Police say officers were dispatched to the area at 8:56 p.m. and the male victims were found on a sidewalk adjacent to Lincoln Basset Elementary School. The two were taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where one older teen was pronounced dead at 9:28 p.m.
Sources have identified the homicide victim as Taijhon Washington, 17. The injured victim has been identified as a 16-year-old, also of Hamden. He was listed in critical condition early today.
Hamden Public Schools interim Superintendent of Schools Christopher Melillo said grief counselors have been providing services at Hamden High School and Hamden Middle School. Counselors have been sent to the middle school, Melillo said, because students there once knew the victims.
“We’re very sad about this,” Melillo said. “It does impact everyone in the community, We’re here to support the family in their time of grief and support all of the students and staff who were impacted.”
Mellio said Washington and the injured victim were half-brothers. He said though Washington was not a current student of Hamden High School, a great numbers of staff and students knew him.
“A lot of sadness right now at the school,” he said.

14 year old California boy injured by stray bullet while walking home from school

A 14 year old boy was injured by a stray bullet apparently meant for someone else as he walked home from school in Antioch, California:
An Antioch teenager, walking home from school, was wounded in a spray of gunfire Monday afternoon. The 14-year-old boy was on the 1400 block of Sycamore Street, a few blocks from his house, when a bullet struck him in the lower arm.
"Everybody scattered when they heard the shots, everybody scattered," witness Dovie Brown told KTVU.
She heard four shots and came out of her house, to see the boy running in a panic, apparently trying to get home.
Brown and others sat him down on a grassy front yard, as police and paramedics were called.
"He kept saying, 'I'm okay, I'm okay," she recalled, the boy calm as blood ran down his arm.
"I got a towel to wrap it in, " added Brown, "and someone called his mother, and she came running down, and she was really messed-up, I thought she was going to faint, so I tried to comfort her."
"It is an area known for some violence," Antioch Police Lieutenant John Vanderklugt told KTVU.
Witnesses told investigators the bullets came from a man walking on the same side of the street as the victim, who started shooting his handgun at a small, dark, compact car that sped away.
"Our victim was in between the suspect and the vehicle, and that's how our victim was injured," explained Vanderklugt.

6 year old Florida girl injured in attempt to shoot her mother

A Florida girl with spina bifada was injured in an attempt to shoot her mother. From an article:
A felon with a gun shot into a car with children early Monday, police say.
James Brookins' bullet pierced his 23-year-old target, according to Tampa police. Then it grazed the arm of Zakayla Newsome, a 6-year-old with spina bifida.
Brookins' 5-month-old son was nearby, in the back seat.
"You don't have any respect for the law. You don't have any respect for life," Zakayla's grandmother, Zhelma Washington, 45, said later. "Your son could have been killed."
Zakayla, who has undergone about two dozen surgeries in her young life, was back in the hospital Monday.

7 year old South Dakota boy shot by brother

Yet another shooting of a child by a sibling- this time in South Dakota. From the article:
 7-year-old boy died Tuesday after he was accidentally shot by his 9-year-old brother at a home in Freeman in southeastern South Dakota.
According to Hutchinson County State’s Attorney Glenn Roth, the 9-year-old was interviewed by investigators with the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation after the shooting.
Roth said the 9-year-old told investigators that he and his 7-year-old brother were playing with a handgun when he pulled the trigger, thinking the gun was not loaded, and unintentionally shot the 7-year-old.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

8-year-old shoots his 9-year-old cousin

An 8-year-old boy and his 9-year-old cousin were riding in the back seat of a car in Richfield, Utah. According to reports:

The boy accidentally shot the girl with a .45-caliber handgun.
The bullet "entered and exited the victim, and then exited the vehicle. At this time the victim is expected to be fine and is in stable condition," according to police.

Police have not released any other information, including how the boy got hold of the gun.

14-year-old hit by stray bullet while looking out his window

14-year-old Victor Wilson was looking out the window of his home in Coatesville, Pennsylvania when he was hit by a stray bullet.  According to news reports:

"We have a report of a number of males in the parking lot area and shots were ringing out," said police.
The teen walked to the window when he heard shots and was hit in the stomach.

He was rushed to the hospital where he is listed in stable condition.
Police are still investigating the incident.


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Oklahoma 2 year old shoots himself at home

Another toddler has gotten his hands on a gun at his Oklahoma home and shot himself. From an article:
A Broken Arrow toddler has died after an accidental shooting Tuesday night.
Officers responded just before 9 p.m. to a home near 41st and 209th East Avenue for what investigators say was the "accidental discharge" of a handgun.
Upon arrival, police found a 2-year-old boy who had shot himself.
The toddler was transported to an area hospital with a gunshot wound in the upper torso.
Broken Arrow Cpl. Leon Calhoun tells 2NEWS the boy did not survive his injuries.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

3 year old Texas toddler allegedly shot by 8 year old

Another toddler has been allegedly shot by a child with a loaded gun at a Texas home:
A 3-year-old Navarro County boy was shot to death Monday and authorities say an 8-year-old may have fired the deadly blast from a 20-gauge shotgun.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Friday, March 7, 2014

5 year old California boy shoots and kills himself

And yet another young child has found a loaded gun at home and shot and killed himself. This incident happened in California:
A 5-year-old boy who found a gun in his home appears to have accidentally shot and killed himself, a source within the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday on the condition of anonymity.
The incident happened at 5:21 p.m. Tuesday in the 31000 block of Wolfskill Avenue in the rural Nuevo area of Riverside County, officials said.
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"In this area, when something like this happens, it impacts the entire community," one Nuevo resident said of the tight-knit area.
Detectives and forensics investigators spent nearly a full 24 hours in rural Riverside County trying to determind whether any foul play or negligence was involved in his death.
The boy's grandfather was in the home at the time of the shooting and was being questioned Wednesday afternoon, but a Riverside County sheriff's official told NBC4 Wednesday morning the boy appears to have accidentally shot himself in the home. (...)  
"How could they have guns knowing that they have kids, and you know, these kids get into everything," Laura said.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

5 year old Oklahoma boy shoots himself and his father at Bass Pro shop

A 5 year old boy found his father's gun in a dressing room at the Bass Pro shop in Bricktown, Oklahoma and shot himself and his father. From an article:
Police told KOCO 5 the father and son were in Oklahoma City from their home near Amarillo, Texas, for the Jason Aldean concert. The little boy was playing in the store when he got a hold of his dad's gun.
According to Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow with the Oklahoma City Police Department, “Father and son were in the dressing room together. The son, who was 5- years-old, was apparently playing with dad's cellphone which was sitting there in the dressing room.”
Also in the dressing room and within the boy's reach was a loaded handgun.
"The dad had a concealed carry permit. He had taken his gun off, set it down," Wardlow said.
That's when, according to police, the boy grabbed the gun shooting himself in the hand and his dad in the leg. Both victims were transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

3 year old Arizona boy finds gun and shoots himself

An Arizona toddler found a gun at home and shot himself with it:
A 3-year-old boy is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the lower torso on Monday afternoon.
Pima County Sheriff's Deputies are continuing to investigate how the toddler got his hands on a loaded weapon in his own home.
Deputies responded to the shooting in the 26000 block of South Monarch Way in Amado just after 12:30 p.m. A helicopter medivacked the toddler to the UAMC Trauma Center.  
"The surgery ended and the 3-year-old child is expected to live and is in stable condition," Deputy Tracy Suitt said.
"This outcome could have been a lot worse," said neighbor Edward Orozco, who was working on his roof at the time of the shooting. (...) 
Most of the neighbors in the rural area of Amado known as Elephant Head own guns, Orozco said. 
"And what do you do to make sure this wouldn't happen to your children?" 9 On Your Side asked Orozco. 
"Everyday I put my gun -- I have a lock -- a safe, I put my gun away," Orozco said.
Keeping guns locked in a safe location is the safety message echoed by the Sheriff's Department.
"We all know that young children are very inquisitive and if they see a weapon they're going to think it is possibly a toy and then there may be an accident like we had today," Suitt said.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

A 2 year old Florida boy injured by stray bullet

Another toddler has been injured by gun fire. This Florida 2 year old was being held by his grandpa outside of his home when a stray bullet hit him. From an article:
On Sunday at about 4:30 a.m. the grandfather of the boy, Dreden Davis – who family members identified by his nickname, Shabba – was carrying the toddler outside his house on 75th Street, trying to get Shabba to go back to sleep.
Somebody pulled up and opened fire. Shabba was hit on the top of his head. His father Andre Davis, who was sitting inside his vehicle, was grazed, police said.
“Anybody that can open fire when there’s a baby around, they don't have no remorse, they don't have a heart at all, and I just want him brought to justice, that's all,” said his grandmother, Truda Hanna.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

5 year old Oregon boy injured with father's black powder pistol

A 5 year old Oregon boy was shot in the stomach when his father's replica powder gun discharged. From an article:
Investigators say the boy found his father’s black powder pistol in an unsecured cabinet in the home while his father was asleep. His 8-year-old sister tried to take the gun away from him and it discharged, striking the boy.
The child’s father is a convicted felon and is not allowed to be in possession of a firearm. Medford Police arrested 46-year-old Brian Green for assault, reckless endangerment, and felon in possession of a firearm. His bail is set at $14,000 at the Jackson County Jail.
Police say the black powder pistol is considered a firearm because it is a replica and not an original antique pistol. “This is not an antique firearm. This is a modern reproduction of a cap and ball revolver,” said Sergeant Darrell Graham with Medford Police.
Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.