"Self Defense Gun" Kills 3 year old....

[Jeff White]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...A3DE182C24C6199F8625727900668E41?OpenDocument

Self-defense gun kills N. County boy, 3
By David Hunn
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/05/2007

A shotgun that an Edmundson woman kept for self-protection killed her younger child Sunday -- and police say that her older child pulled the trigger.

The dead child was identified as 3-year-old Benjamin Gollihur. Police say the shotgun blast caught him in the back at 12:25 p.m. in the family home, in the 4300 block of Heath Street.

Police say the victim's older brother, an 8-year-old boy, fired the weapon -- an 18 1/2-inch, pistol-grip, 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun.

Police say the mother of the boys was in the house with a man at the time but was in a different room. Edmundson Police Chief Donald Kraher said the weapon had been kept beneath a couch.

Police declined to identify the mother. But neighbors say she is Rita Gollihur, a full-time college student. The neightbors say she told them that she was being stalked by a fellow student and kept the weapon for self-protection.

The 8-year-old attends Holy Trinity Catholic School at 10901 St. Henry Lane in St. Ann. This morning, principal Margaret Ahle described the 8-year-old as "just the gentlest, sweetest child." Ahle said the boy had been very protective of his younger brother.

The pastor of Holy Trinity, the Rev. John Leykam, said, "This mother sacrificed anything and everything for her kids." He added, "This is a painful tragedy that we all share in."

The school has about 400 pupils. Through a phone tree set-up, parents of all pupils got the word Sunday night about the shooting. The achdiocese dispatched counselors to the school today.

Leykam said, "People are reaching out, asking what they can do."

Police said today that they had yet to talk to the mother or the 8-year-old.

The shooting was the second within a week in which an area child killed another.

Early on Jan. 29, a young boy in an apartment in Venice picked up a revolver and fired a shot that hit 2-year-old Timberlyn Terrell in the head. She died the next day at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis.

In that case, authorities have charged the revolver's owner -- Anthony Wise, who has a drug-dealing record and is the ex-boyfriend of the victim's mother, Kimberly Terrell.

 

[rangermonroe]

How terribly, and tragically sad.
I pity the parent who has to bury her child. She will never quit blaming herself, nor will the 8yo child. Truly tragic.
Sympathy to her from the ranger household.

Keep them out of the reach of the little ones, Boys and Girls. Teach them not to touch, should you slip up!

Eight years old is plenty old enough to teach.

 

[phreeq]

Eight years old is plenty old enough to teach.

I agree completely! My daughter is not even 3, yet I have started to teach her.

If she walks up to me while I have one of the guns out (it's only happened twice so far), she can look and touch, but I am teaching her not to touch the trigger. Of course, both time, she has reached for the trigger, but I stop her and explain that she should not touch it.

Not sure if I'm starting out too far over her head or not, but I figure it can't hurt to try.

 

[K-Romulus]

nice spin in the article

How many "ostentatious conspicuous consumption swimming pools" have killed the kids who lived nearby?

Supposedly the answer is 100 times as many as the "self defense guns" kept in the same nearby homes. Why wasn't that in an article?

 

[1911ONR]

The title should read:

Mother recklessly endangers 3-year old son leading to his death; charges pending. She needs to be made an example of so that others may learn from her mistake. If the justice system says she has suffered enough and is not charged, that just gives the gun-grabers more social evidence that the gun is to blame. :banghead:

 

[bogie]

No swimming pools in that neighborhood - North-Mid St. Louis County. Swimming pools may get stolen. Even the cement ones.

 

[mdao]

Mother recklessly endangers 3-year old son leading to his death; charges pending. She needs to be made an example of so that others may learn from her mistake. If the justice system says she has suffered enough and is not charged, that just gives the gun-grabers more social evidence that the gun is to blame. :banghead:

Making a legal example out of her won't help. I mean, she just killed her kid through her ignorance. A few years in jail pales in comparison to accidentally killing your kid as a deterrent.

Only thing that would help is better gun education for the public. Too bad that's not going to happen.

 

[FW]

It's Bush's fault.

 

[pipboy]

its a tragedy that could have been prevented a million ways...most of all id like to know why it was loaded, there is no excuse for having a loaded unsecure weapon near children (espcially in a play area in or around a couch) logic tells me simply pumping that shotgun would have made most people run. I'm all about gun education, but long before education comes safety! Saftey first always!

 

[george29]

Gee, mom in a different room with a male "visitor" + a curious, unsupervised eight year old = _______ .

Even w/o a loaded weapon in the house, how many stories have we read about poisons being eaten, matches and little children, kitchen knives, taking a walk in the neighborhood, sticking metal toys in the electric sockets, etc.

Someone previously hinted right, this is not a "gun story tragedy", this is child abandonment/endangerment.

Lawmakers have begun to deal with outlawing "puppy-mills" known for creating animals that exhibit problematic tendencies and overburdening the system, it's inevitable that "people-mills" do the same. Where is Sarah Brady to endorse a mandatory chastity belt to prevent accidental discharge in the wrong places.

It's time to start licensing people to have children. Proof of residence, proof of a job, clean bill of health from psychologist, clergy. 5 references (not family). Fill out a Pay a $25 fee and wait 3 days to be allowed to have sex if approved.



Here is my solution:

 

[carlrodd]

A shotgun that an Edmundson woman kept for self-protection killed her younger child Sunday -- and police say that her older child pulled the trigger.

oh, how much is contained a few words. the shotgun killed her youmger child. the author of this article, or the copy editor could have printed "Edmundson woman's eldest child kills younger with shotgun." Not just still the truth, but more the truth. more demonizing of inanimate objects. the public will eat it up.

 

[1911ONR]

Making a legal example out of her won't help. I mean, she just killed her kid through her ignorance. A few years in jail pales in comparison to accidentally killing your kid as a deterrent.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. I feel for the family's loss, but this only perpetuates the notion that she's a victim of gun violence, not that she's responsible for the tragedy.

 

[CountGlockula]

Sad very sad. Thanks for posting it as a reminder for to remain responsible.

 

[ranger335v]

That sort of accident agonizes us all. The poor mother must be in turmoil. She felt the need for being able to protect her children and got something to do it with. She probably had little training with guns herself so trying to educate the kids wasn't a priority obviously. Now what she sought to prevent has taken one of her most prized people and permately harmed the other. Truly sad.

I'm sure some "scientist" will soon publish a paper telling us that such events are further proof of global warming. And it would make as much sense as most of the rest of the publishings on the subject.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Self-defense gun kills N. County boy, 3

Why, that bad, bad gun!

 

[DogBonz]

Another person

Pissing on our toilet seat. The article should read:

Stupid Mother's Negligence Kills Her Child and simultaneously helps to erode the Second Amendment.

All together now, 1...2...3... "THANKS MOM"

 

[rangermonroe]

ALL STOP, BACK UP!

None of us have made that mistake. (roll eyes)

The lady is burying her child, and has to explain things to the other little man. It almost makes me cry to describe it to y'all.

Can you Imagine?

Let's you and I let this one lie.

 

[Gord]

She could have, y'know, put it someplace "up high" where the kids wouldn't have been able to get to it as easily (Pax will be along shortly to kick me in the rear for that, but...).

It sucks that it happened, but how stupid do you have to be to leave your kids alone in a room with a loaded, unsecured gun that's right at floor level?

The article makes it abundantly clear that it's supposedly the gun's fault. "Thanks, Mom."

 

[Sistema1927]

With freedom comes responsibility.

 

[BigO01]

Every single gun I have bought has come with a pamphlet telling you not to load the gun until you intend to shoot it , and to keep it out of reach of children .

Stuffing a round or two in a shotguns magazine takes a few seconds at worst when needed .

A gun under the couch is NOT acceptable even with the stalking story . It should have been kept in the bedroom unloaded , where she was apparently entertaining a future father of another child "the other two probably had different fathers" .

Yes she should be prosecuted for child endangerment and negligent homicide and thrown in jail for a very long time , perhaps the 8 YO will grow up to be a decent productive member of society if he were to have a decent mother .

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

What a horrible thing to go through for the Mom and kids.

A shotgun that an Edmundson woman kept for self-protection killed her younger child Sunday

I hope that shotgun is given the death penalty, or at least life in prison with no chance of parole. I mean after all, it killed the kid. Maybe we should get more specific, I mean technically the pellets or slug killed the kid right?

It's a horrible situation but the blaming of inanimate objects for deaths has got to stop already. I'd be ok with "Unsupervised child accidentally shoots and kills younger brother" but that would be placing blame on people and it's easier to blame objects eh?

 

[bogie]

Well, that ain't the best neighborhood...

I wonder what else was in the house. Wonder why the kid did it... Video games, or trying to emulate some older role models...

Kids around some of these neighborhoods may look young, but they aren't...

 

[Jeff White]

I'm more concerned about the language used by the writer. I'm getting tired of the press treatin inanimate objects like they were capable of independent action.

We're really losing the language battle of the culture war. I think I'll compose an email to both the writer and the readers advocate of the old Post Dispatch.

Jeff

 

[David904]

I'm with everyone who has stated that the angle that the article takes is definitely biased against firearm ownership. And to that end, it annoys me.

I just can't stomach the snarky, mean - spirited comments thrown the mother's way. She made a horrifyingly, tragically poor judgment and now one of her children is dead at the hands of her other child. That boy will never be the same again. He will always be sad and carry the weight of a sense of guilt for the rest of his life. This is a tragedy. I pray to God that my kids remember (and act on it) what to do if they are over at a friend's house and the friend says something along the lines of, "Hey, wanna see my Dad's gun?" My boys will know how to handle firearms safely, but their friends may not. Leave immediately if the gun comes out. Come home and tell me. Stay alive.

Rangermonroe, we're on the same page here. I agree whole-heartedly.

 

[crazed_ss]

In CA this woman would be sitting in jail right now. Against the law to leave firearms laying about if a minors are around.