Teen Who Provided Access To Loaded, Unsecured Gun Used To Kill Toddler Given 1 Year Probation

[TeddyR]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/teen-who-provided-gun-used-to-kill-3-year-old-girl-put-on-years-probation/2015/12/11/9492da32-a035-11e5-a3c5-c77f2cc5a43c_story.html?hpid=hp_local-news_cox-338p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Thought I would gauge the sentiments of those on DU for this story. A lot of people want stricter gun control, a lot want to enforce the laws already on the books, etc. In this case, a 17 year old in DC - who was not permitted to own a gun under DC law - left a 9MM handgun he "found" unsecured in his apartment and a 7 year old found the gun and shot and killed a 3 year old with it. The 17 year old was sentenced to 1 year probation. I've seen some post that those who use a gun during a crime should be sentenced to life in prison. What about this 17 year old? Is a year's probation sufficient for leaving unsecured a gun used to kill a child?

The 7-year-old District boy who accidentally shot and killed his 3-year-old sister in July told homicide detectives that he thought his sister would “get up” after she was shot, “like they do on TV,” a prosecutor told a D.C. Superior Court judge Friday.

As she described the aftermath of the July 29 shooting of Dalis Cox, local prosecutor Kristi Browning’s voice quavered. She told the judge that the boy had told detectives that he was surprised his little sister had been killed.

“He said he didn’t know that would happen. He said guns on TV don’t do that,” Browning told the judge. “There was a break between reality and TV.”

The emotional disclosure came during the final hearing in a case that has left a community grieving a toddler’s death and officials and community leaders questioning how a gun could get into the hands of a child.

After the hearing, Browning said authorities considered the 7-year-old a “victim” as well.


But prosecutors did charge a 17-year-old male who admitted to bringing the loaded 9mm Glock pistol to the boy’s apartment. Inside the apartment, the 7-year-old found the gun in a bag and began playing with it. The boy fired the weapon, and a bullet struck his sister in the chest. The children’s mother was in another part of the apartment at the time.

[Demit]

1. After reading the rest of the story, I trust the judge to have given him the appropriate sentence.

She also is having him perform 150 hours of community service, told him to speak to groups about the dangers of guns, and warned him that she didn't want to see him again as an adult.

[Electric Monk]

2. Negligent Homicide seems like a more appropriate charge than "attempted second-degree cruelty

to children", with at least a year of jail time, not probation.

imho

[sanatanadharma]

3. The 17 year old is a victim...

...of the NRATERRORIST elevation of the gun to the level of sanctified object needed in the church of the 2nd amendment.

How cool is being able to have a gun??
So cool that good guys refuse to support laws which might deny bad guys that good feeling.