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Orange Sherrif' Office, And Justice Of The Peace: 5-Year-Old Boy Accidentally Shoots, Kills Himself

Details are still sketchy a this time. Prayers for the family.

http://www.kfdm.com/shared/news/top-sto ... 7147.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, so sad. Tragic as always. My prayers are with the family.

Tragic story, but like most firearm related accidents could have been prevented.

Who left the firearm unsecured?

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

LeonCarr wrote:Tragic story, but like most firearm related accidents could have been prevented.

Who left the firearm unsecured?

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

According to KHOU TV News the baby sitter left the weapon ( .40 cal I think) on a coffee table and took a nap. Said she woke up and found the child shot dead. Goes beyond tragic.

A .40 cal going off does not wake you up? I think more facts will come out.

I do not mean to trivialize the tragic death of a small child, but I want to ask one thing. If the child had accidentally ingested a cleaning compound, or ran with a knife and fallen down on it, or poked something into a light socket and received a deadly shock, and he had been killed, would this be a story in the news? Would it get more than one or two comments, even if it were? This is more media manipulation of a terrible and tragic event, likely for political purposes.

K.Mooneyham wrote:I do not mean to trivialize the tragic death of a small child, but I want to ask one thing. If the child had accidentally ingested a cleaning compound, or ran with a knife and fallen down on it, or poked something into a light socket and received a deadly shock, and he had been killed, would this be a story in the news? Would it get more than one or two comments, even if it were? This is more media manipulation of a terrible and tragic event, likely for political purposes.

Yes, it is a supervision issue and an issue of leaving potentially danagerous materials around a young child. A sharp kitchen knife could easily be just as dangerous. I would bet it was loaded with one in the pipe also.

K.Mooneyham wrote:I do not mean to trivialize the tragic death of a small child, but I want to ask one thing. If the child had accidentally ingested a cleaning compound, or ran with a knife and fallen down on it, or poked something into a light socket and received a deadly shock, and he had been killed, would this be a story in the news? Would it get more than one or two comments, even if it were? This is more media manipulation of a terrible and tragic event, likely for political purposes.

I agree with your point, but playing devil's advocate, a gun is something that a kid is interested in fiddling with, as opposed to most of the other items you mentioned. I would think that an AD-by-child would happen more often per firearm left unattended than a bottle of cleaner/kitchen knife.

Here's an update, It was the babysitter's gun, she's been arrested.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/ ... 917402.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to the account in The Penny Record, a weekly newspaper, Melissa Ringhardt, age 19, had been living with the Joe and Katla Nash family near Vidor for several months. The Nash family left Ringhardt to babysit their 5 year old son, John Allen, and their six month old infant. Ringhardt states that she was concerned for her safety being home alone and armed herself with the Nash's semi-automatic .40 caliber pistol. She left the pistol on a coffee table in the living room and went into the bedroom to take a nap. When she awoke from her nap she noticed that she did not see John Nash until she found him in the living room with the fatal gunshot wound. Ringhardt carried the deceased boy and the infant to their nearby grandparent's house because there was no phone in the house. Ringhardt has been arrested by the Orange County Sheriffs Department for endangerment to a child.

My thoughts: She was concerned for her safety, armed herself with a pistol, then took a nap without taking the pistol with her... was she no longer concerned for her safety? The boy shoots himself with the pistol but Ringhardt is sleeping so soundly that she does not hear the shot.

My opinion: Ringhardt accidently or otherwise fatally shot the Nash boy.