Chicago police: 3-year-old fatally shot by brother, 6

[librarylu]

84. You've assumed he's a criminal

He's a manager at Papa Ray's Pizza. He thought the top of the tall refrigerator was the safest place for the gun, that the kids couldn't reach it. He's not the first to make such a mistake.

Off the top of my head I can think of a case where a five-year-old got a chair, got the gun off the top of a cabinet and shot his little sister dead. More recently a boy got into his grandfather's gun case, found the loaded handgun behind the long guns and killed his baby brother while his mother was in the kitchen. "I'm sorry, mom. I shot Corbin."

Never underestimate the ingenuity of a child.

In this case Santiago may have feared reprisals because he left the gang but they live in a neighborhood where shootings are common. This is one of those rare cases where keeping a gun for self defense and defense of home and family may have been justified. I'd have preferred a security system but maybe they couldn't afford one (and what's the response time?). I was once advised by a security salesman that it's cheaper to get robbed (I just had been). The employees were getting robbed in the security company's parking lot.

You read the article so you know what the mother posted on Facebook: “PLEASE LET MY FAMILY GRIEVE IN PEACE LEAVE OUT ALL YOUR NEGATIVE N RUDE COMMENTS TO URSELF”