16 year old Oregon boy shot to death while sitting in car

A 16 year old boy was found shot to death in a car in his driveway in an Oregon community:

Officials said the 16-year-old, Lazaro Lizandro Fuentes Burgos, was shot while he sat in a 1994 Nissan Sentra. Neighbors heard shots around 1:40 a.m., but police weren’t notified of the shooting for about an hour.

Burgos lived in Southeast Portland’s Lents neighborhood and has no known gang ties or drug ties. The motive for this shooting is not known, officials said.

Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland Police Bureau spokesman, said neighbors in the 5800 block of Northeast 59th called 911 around 3 a.m. after finding the teen inside a parked vehicle suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.

11 year old Oklahoma boy shoots grandmother

An 11 year old boy shot his own grandmother in a Tulsa, Oklahoma apartment:

An 11-year-old has been arrested in a shooting at a south Tulsa apartment complex near 79th Street and South Sheridan Avenue.

Police say a 50-year-old woman was shot in the back of the head around 4 p.m. Monday at Ridgemont Apartments.

Detectives told 2NEWS the woman's 11-year-old grandson was in the apartment at the time of the shooting.

Police say after the shooting, he ran out of the apartment while his grandmother was still conscious but in need of help. The victim called 911.

After questioning the boy, police arrested him on a complaint of shooting with intent to kill. 

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

9 year old New Jersey girl shot outside of grandparents' home

A 9 year old New Jersey girl was playing outside of her grandparents' home when she was shot 3 times by someone in a car. From an article:

A nine-year-old girl is hospitalized after she was shot three times in Trenton on Monday afternoon.

It happened around 3 p.m. on the 200 block of Bellevue Avenue.

Struck by gunfire playing on the sidewalk outside her grandparents’ Trenton home, a nine-year-old girl was hit three times by a spray of bullets police believe were intended for someone else.

“There were shots being fired up in the direction of the block,” says Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera, Jr. “There was a vehicle that took about nine rounds. We don’t know what role that vehicle is playing right now.”

4 year old South Carolina boy accidentally shoots himself

A 4 year old South Carolina boy found a gun in the home of his grandparents and shot himself:

Police responded to the 800 block of West Richardson Avenue about 4:30 pm after a report about a child with a gunshot wound.

Police say the child found a weapon and shot himself.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

3 year old and 14 year old Rochester, New York kids hit by "stray" bullets

Two children have been hit by bullets in a Rochester, New York neighborhood. From the article:

The 3-year-old boy who was wounded Monday appears to be an unintended victim of the two shootings that occurred Monday night on Fennimore Avenue, but the same cannot be said of the teen who was wounded, police said today.

“It appears the 14-year-old may’ve been the intended target and that the 3-year-old was struck possibly by a stray shot,” Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said.

The 3-year-old and 14-year-old, whom relatives identified as Jamal Sanders, remain in critical but stable condition at Women and Children’s Hospital. The 3-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. The 14-year-old suffered wounds of the neck, back and one leg.

They lived across the street from each other. The shooting apparently happened in a driveway.

3 year old South Carolina boy shot at his home

A 3 year old South Carolina child was shot in his home. No details yet as to the cause of the shooting. As we write so often on this blog, children gain access to unsecured guns in homes far too often.

20 guns found in home of 3 year old Arizona boy who shot himself in March

Arizona officials have released information that 20 guns were found in the Arizona home where a 3 year old toddler shot himself in the stomach. From the article:

Detectives found 20 unsecured guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition throughout the home of the family of a 3-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the abdomen March 3, according to reports released last week.

The boy, who survived the shooting, was flown to a Tucson hospital where he underwent surgery.

The case is being referred to the Pima County Attorney's Office, according to a Pima County Sheriff's detective. The boy's parents, Don and Sharina Marion, have not been arrested or charged. Don Marion is the volunteer fire chief for Elephant Head Fire Department.

The boy apparently pulled a small chair up to a counter where his mother was working on a laptop computer, saw the .32-caliber semi-automatic pistol there and shot himself, according to reports. The gun was in an ankle holster with the trigger exposed “and could easily be pulled by almost anyone,” according to a report. (...) 

Sheriff's detectives obtained a search warrant for the house in Elephant Head and found 20 guns along with boxes, cans and bags of ammunition in several rooms. The weapons included shotguns, rifles, a Ruger and a Colt .45 handgun in a holster affixed to the headboard in the master bedroom. The family owns a gun safe where several weapons were found but it was not locked, according to the report. One of the couple's four children told detectives he knew the safe was not locked; another said his father “did not remember the combination to the safe.”

Most of the weapons in the house were not loaded; several had rounds in the chamber and others had rounds in magazines, according to the report.

Sharina Marion told a detective she wasn't aware that there were unsecured guns in the home and indicated she believed the gun safe was locked. The family said the pistol in the shooting was usually kept atop a kitchen cupboard, out of reach of the couple's children, and said it must have fallen.

The Marions told detectives they taught their children, ages 3, 7, 9 and 10, firearms safety, and that they knew the guns were for protection and only to be accessed in an emergency with parental approval. They said all the children had fired guns, including the 3 year old, on a "church shoot" the day before the incident with several members of their church. The toddler pulled the trigger but did not handle the gun alone, according his parents.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.