10-year-old Boy Shot By 7-year-old Sister

10-year-old Boy Shot By 7-year-old Sister

AP

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UPDATE: Authorities report that the boy who was shot by his seven-year-old sister in New Tazewell, Tenn. died the morning of Christmas Eve.

Lee County, Virginia authorities say a 10-year-old New Tazewell, TN boy was accidentally shot by his 7-year-old sister last week.

According to Lee County Sheriff Gary Parsons, the shooting happened in the Gibson Station Community near the Lee County and Claiborne County, TN line.

The children and their father were at an aunt’s house preparing to go hunting. The father told investigators that he went inside for a moment and heard a gunshot. When he went back outside he found the boy with a .22 caliber gunshot wound to the head.

Parsons said the boy was airlifted the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. The child underwent emergency surgery in the Pediatric ICU.

Lee County Investigators are still looking into why the children were left unattended with loaded firearms, and are considering placing charges.

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Flag Comment Posted by cbr929rrerion on December 31, 2008 at 12:59 pm

I guess the fact the poor father, a possiable convicted felon with previous child abuse or neglict charges is fine and he still gets a free pass.

First off if he is a convicted felon as the Law Enforcement believes he is, he should not have nor be near guns or going hunting, felowns can not do that and if the previous charges are for neglict or abuse as they suspect from his criminal record I guess it’s ok to still give him a free pass, this time his neglict resulted in a childs death.

Children deserve better.

Here is the “Rest of the story”

After reviewing the father’s criminal history and learning he may be a convicted felon and may have previously been charged with child abuse or neglect, they agreed to contact federal authorities to see if they may take the case.

“We believe him to be a convicted felon. Because he has an old criminal history, we’re still working on that,” said Scott. “An item on his criminal history might be in relation to child abuse or neglect. The code section listed covers several types of charges, so we don’t know exactly what that is.

Flag Comment Posted by evaningstar on December 31, 2008 at 11:04 am

My prayers and thoughts are with this family. I have no idea the kind of hurt you must be experiencing. I don’t personally think that charges should be filed against the father. The grief and guilt this man has to be dealing with will supercede any criminal punishment he could ever face.
Please parents, guns have safetys for a reason…keep them on until ready to use.
To say that a ten year old isn’t old enough to hunt isn’t necessarily true. That would depend on the maturity of the 10 yr old. If they are eating what they are hunting then there is nothing wrong with it. But, to take a young person and teach them to kill just for the sport of it is in my eyes wrong. I grew up on a farm and was shooting a gun by the time I was five or so, I had to help keep critters out of the garden etc. and protect myself from snakes. But, I did grow up with a healthy respect for guns and their uses and dangers.

Flag Comment Posted by Robin on December 24, 2008 at 10:29 am

I’m not sure if placing charges on this man is the right thing or not. I mean what he done was totally stupid and uncalled for, he should have known better then to leave 2 childrena lone with a loaded gun but I’d say that this man feels bad enough for allowing this to happen.I’d hate to know what this man is having to deal with right now seeing his little boy in this shape. I’d say this was just a freak accident,I don’t know the man personally and I can’t say weather or not he’s a bad parent.I just know that children shouldn’t be trusted with guns especially loaded ones.People just don’t realize how sudden things can happen and he was probably running back inside the house or something real quick to get something he forgot ( from wha the story says )I don’t think that 10 year old should be going hunting to begin with, they are just too young to understand the dangers of guns. They don’t handle guns the way an adult would or should.Every parent wants to believe that their kids ‘know better’ but I think that all kids are going to act like kids and things like this happen when kids are left unattended, no matter how ‘responsible’ parents think their kids are.

Flag Comment Posted by supplyguy on December 24, 2008 at 8:30 am

There is no point in placing charges.  I’m quite confident that the father has learned a tragic lesson.  Placing charges now will just make it harder on the rest of the family dealing with this issue.

Flag Comment Posted by cbr929rrerion on December 23, 2008 at 11:07 pm

Im sorry but I don’t see the “accident” with leaving a 7 and 10 year old with loaded guns they have access to with out constant parental supervision.

What part of that is an accident?

Flag Comment Posted by supplyguy on December 23, 2008 at 9:57 pm

Maybe the parents should have taught these things a little better.  However, when you start charging parents for freak accidents, the charges will be endless.  Accidents like this have been going on for centuries.  Any parent is simply 1/2 second away from an accident like this at any time.  It may not be a gun, but it could be any number of ways.  It’s only by the grace of God that something hasn’t happened to all our children.

Flag Comment Posted by jwall8907 on December 23, 2008 at 8:15 pm

I agree charges should be charged. Parents do need to teach their children not to mess with guns and the dangers that happen if they do, but sometimes kids do it just to see, no matter what they are taught! Parents are suppose to be smart enough to keep loaded or unload firearms out of the reach of children. Let’s keep this family in our prayers and hope that God helps this little boy through his fight. God bless this flamily, you are all in my prayers.

Flag Comment Posted by Robin on December 23, 2008 at 7:04 pm

OMG! This is in this horrible. Why in this world anyone leave a 10 year old and a 7 year old alone ( for any amount of time ) with a loaded gun? God bless this family and this little boy~ my prayers are with them. I hope that this will teach EVERYONE a lesson about children and guns~ they should never be left alone, not even for a spilt second, with a gun. Things can happen in the blink of an eye that leave us with a life time of regret.

Flag Comment Posted by cbr929rrerion on December 23, 2008 at 6:55 pm

Charges SHOULD be placed

Flag Comment Posted by nanaof150 on December 23, 2008 at 6:43 pm

I know most will say that parents need to keep guns locked up. Parents also need to teach their kids that the bullets that come out of those guns can seriously maim and kill. My daddy did not lock up his gun and did teach us that it could hurt us. We’d get our butts whooped if we messed with it.
Yes, this dad was irresponsible leaving a loaded gun unattended with his kids, but he should have taught them that it was dangerous and not to touch it without him right there to supervise.

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