3 year old in STL, preventable loss

Folks, this story comes from some folks I know in St. Louis. A 3 year old was in a room unattended and discovered a loaded pistol. She wound up shooting herself in the head and died as a result of the traumatic injury from that shot.

My heart goes out to the parents as this was preventable.
Always on you person/under your personal control or locked in a manner so that children and unauthorized persons cannot access them. In addition to keeping your young children within reasonable viewing distance.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/266880/3/Charges-considered-after-toddler-shoots-self

This kind of tragedy is so clearly preventable. Children are curious by nature and extreme care must be taken when firearms are in the home. I do think some kind of charge will be brought, as it should.

Terribly sad:uhoh:, but preventable.
Aside from securing the pistol, TEACH SAFETY!
3yo is not too young to start with the "don't touch, leave the room, tell an adult" message.
And it's not too young to start teaching the 4 rules.

And once they start to understand the rules, it's not too young to start letting them handle an unloaded pistol w/ an adult hovering to keep them from pointing it somewhere unsafe. It's pretty boring, so that won't last long.

Short-circuit that curiosity by taking away all the mystery.
Make it matter-of-fact, like not touching a hot stove or always wearing a seatbelt.

I hope the state-imposed penalty isn't harsh. There's no way it could be worse than what those parents are doing to themselves. Maybe their sentence could include community service... teaching Eddie Eagle to kids & home gun safety to adults seems fitting.

ETA: from the way the article is written, they might have been at someone else's home, so maybe the dad didn't know there was a gun there. If that's the case, it's the resident who will be in trouble.

the parents should be held responsible.
i understand, especially in the city, to be armed; on person or in home; but you need to take extra precautions with children.
it is unfortunate but 100% avoidable. he could of just as easily put it on a shelf covered up...at least then it is not within such a easy arms reach

Sad...!

The homeowner is culpable and should be held accountable. 100% avoidable!

I will make sure to add my thoughts to the pet peeve thread... :madface:

Below is the copied and pasted link text with my edits

A 13-year-old in East St. Louis shot herself last night. She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

And a three-year old girl died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Police say Lilianna Moore was shot in an apartment building in the 3800 block of Flad Avenue.

Why include 3 and 13 year olds in the same article, both are tragic, but the situations can not be identical and the 3 vs. 13 thing was confusing...

Authorities believe Lilianna was at the home with her father but it's not known who owned the house.

What home, a rented home, a visited/invited to home, a random home that they walked passed and were invited to come inside...

They say she was alone in a bedroom, found the gun hidden in a bed and shot herself. Others inside the home heard the shot. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Neighbors called the incident awful and sad.

They who are 'they' and why was her father not concerned that she was in "they" home....

It is sad and anytime a person dies due to lack of supervision, is is very sad.

My opinion: Watch the kids and watch the guns. If you think they will cross paths watch them closer or God forbid, take them by hand and teach them...

I know the location of every weapon I own and know whether or not they are in any visitors reach.

Stay Safe,

asg

thebigsd said:

This kind of tragedy is so clearly preventable. Children are curious by nature and extreme care must be taken when firearms are in the home. I do think some kind of charge will be brought, as it should.

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If the firearm was legally owned by the resident, the I'd hope there won't be charges. Enough emotional trauma will exist for the family to last a lifetime on this.
If it wasn't legally owned or comes back as having been used in a crime somehow/somewhere then charges for sure.

I cant stand it when gun owner hide there guns from there kids, its not safer for the kids, you have a bunch of knives in the kitchen but you teach your kids early that you dont touch with out permission, that it will cut them if they misuse it.
When my kid was 3 she new not to touch, I had a dummie gun that looked like mine that I would leave on the floor and see how she reacted and all she did was look at it and step over it to get to her toys LOL but she new if she wanted to see it she just had to ask, and she did a couple times

Fox 2 reported this was in Maryland Heights and it was a police officer's child. Also the offcier was on duty and was first to respond? Did anyone else hear this?

jad316 said:

Fox 2 reported this was in Maryland Heights and it was a police officer's child. Also the offcier was on duty and was first to respond? Did anyone else hear this?

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Yeah, this is another one.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_921a50bb-c341-56ed-a058-7d6f6c8b2c18.html

xdmcompact said:

Thats the same story Lancers.

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I think he meant same story, another article confirming the police officer part.

This is why children need to be taught if they see a guy get away from it and tell an adult.

And now another one...

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/267921/3/Accidental-shooting-leaves-five-year-old-dead