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Saw this story on the website of the Charlotte Observer, Charlotte NC. www.charlotte.com
I say good shoot, just too bad that the kid had to do it.
Man attacks wife; son shoots him, police say
KYTJA WEIR
Staff Writer
As a Mecklenburg County man attacked his wife by slamming her onto the hood of a car and choking her Monday night, police said, their 14-year-old son interrupted and told his father: "Leave my mother alone."
A moment later, police said, the boy shot his father in the neck.
On Tuesday, the father lay hospitalized in critical condition with a bullet lodged in his spine.
No one has been charged in the case. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say they have multiple divisions investigating the events that took place at the eastern Mecklenburg County home.
Some answers won't be known, they say, as long as the man remains in critical condition, unable to tell them what happened.
At this time, the Observer is not identifying any of the family members because no criminal charges have been filed.
Domestic violence advocates say it's not unusual for children to be caught in the violence between their parents.
"A lot of people write off kids as not hearing, as not listening," said Sgt. Vicky Suarez, who heads Charlotte-Mecklenburg police's domestic violence unit. "A lot of times, people don't realize how much kids are involved."
According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, children are present in at least 32 percent of all their domestic violence cases.
Children as young as 4 try to stop the fights, Suarez said. Sometimes they plead, sometimes they try to literally step in between their fighting parents. She said it's unusual, though, for children to fight back with a gun.
A calm evening turns deadly
Monday evening began quietly at the three-bedroom home on Tiger Lily Lane near Harrisburg Road, according to three police reports. The reports are based on interviews with the wife, the teen and his two cousins.Here's what happened next, according to the reports:
The wife asked her son and two of his cousins to take out the garbage. The children took out the trash and returned upstairs. The husband came home, and headed upstairs, too. The wife began cooking dinner.
Around 7:20 p.m., someone punched either the teen or one of his cousins in the chest, then picked him up by his shirt and threw him on a bed.
The wife heard yelling from upstairs.
About five minutes later, the husband came downstairs, opened the refrigerator for a drink and confronted his wife.
"I heard you on the phone," he said. "How did she know I didn't have a job? She is your friend not mine."
The police reports continue:
He yelled into his wife's face, then grabbed her by the throat and began choking her.
He pushed her head into the sink, continuing to yell at her. She was blacking out, moving in and out of consciousness.
He ripped the phone out of the wall.
"If you're not going to leave me, you will leave me after I finished what I'm going to do you tonight," he said.
The reports then say:
He grabbed her, wrangled her to the garage and slammed her onto the hood of the car parked in the garage.
The wife blacked out for a few seconds, then heard her son demand that his father leave her alone.
She heard a bang. A second later, her husband fell to the garage floor.
At 7:46 p.m., authorities received a 911 call. The husband was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center.
By late Monday night, the home was deserted. A pickup was parked in the driveway in front of a basketball net on the dark street of the quiet subdivision.
On Tuesday, investigators said it remained unclear where the boy got the handgun.
The father faces a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery after an incident in November, court records show. His wife was not listed as the complainant. The case is pending.
Helping kids in violent homes
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are trying to reach out to children who live in homes filled with domestic violence as a way to stop the problem.
Almost a year ago, police and other agencies began Operation Youth Awareness. Detectives have visited three middle schools and worked with seventh- and eighth-graders in five sessions, discussing safety, their rights and how to get help.
The teen involved in Monday's shooting is a ninth- grader in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district, according to CMS officials. It's unclear whether he went through Operation Youth Awareness last year as an eighth-grader.
Eventually, Suarez said, she hopes the department can visit all the county's middle schools. For now, though, she said they are limited because they have only five detectives.
She said the program has been powerful and has won an award from Police Chief Darrel Stephens.
The students' issues surprised even longtime detectives.
"We got some really heavy questions from these kids," Suarez said.
The Numbers
• Nearly three of every four women who are chronically mistreated by their partners have children.• An estimated 3 million or more children are exposed to acts of domestic violence nationwide each year.
• In one in five domestic violence homicides and attempted homicides, a child of the battered woman is also killed in the process.
SOURCE: N.C. Coalition of Against Domestic Violence
Tips for Kids
• If you witness violence between your parents, do not intervene.
• Find a safe place and call 911.
SOURCE: Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Sgt. Vicky Suarez
Saw this story on the website of the Charlotte Observer, Charlotte NC. www.charlotte.com
I say good shoot, just too bad that the kid had to do it.
Man attacks wife; son shoots him, police say
KYTJA WEIR
Staff Writer
As a Mecklenburg County man attacked his wife by slamming her onto the hood of a car and choking her Monday night, police said, their 14-year-old son interrupted and told his father: "Leave my mother alone."
A moment later, police said, the boy shot his father in the neck.
On Tuesday, the father lay hospitalized in critical condition with a bullet lodged in his spine.
No one has been charged in the case. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say they have multiple divisions investigating the events that took place at the eastern Mecklenburg County home.
Some answers won't be known, they say, as long as the man remains in critical condition, unable to tell them what happened.
At this time, the Observer is not identifying any of the family members because no criminal charges have been filed.
Domestic violence advocates say it's not unusual for children to be caught in the violence between their parents.
"A lot of people write off kids as not hearing, as not listening," said Sgt. Vicky Suarez, who heads Charlotte-Mecklenburg police's domestic violence unit. "A lot of times, people don't realize how much kids are involved."
According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, children are present in at least 32 percent of all their domestic violence cases.
Children as young as 4 try to stop the fights, Suarez said. Sometimes they plead, sometimes they try to literally step in between their fighting parents. She said it's unusual, though, for children to fight back with a gun.
A calm evening turns deadly
Monday evening began quietly at the three-bedroom home on Tiger Lily Lane near Harrisburg Road, according to three police reports. The reports are based on interviews with the wife, the teen and his two cousins.Here's what happened next, according to the reports:
The wife asked her son and two of his cousins to take out the garbage. The children took out the trash and returned upstairs. The husband came home, and headed upstairs, too. The wife began cooking dinner.
Around 7:20 p.m., someone punched either the teen or one of his cousins in the chest, then picked him up by his shirt and threw him on a bed.
The wife heard yelling from upstairs.
About five minutes later, the husband came downstairs, opened the refrigerator for a drink and confronted his wife.
"I heard you on the phone," he said. "How did she know I didn't have a job? She is your friend not mine."
The police reports continue:
He yelled into his wife's face, then grabbed her by the throat and began choking her.
He pushed her head into the sink, continuing to yell at her. She was blacking out, moving in and out of consciousness.
He ripped the phone out of the wall.
"If you're not going to leave me, you will leave me after I finished what I'm going to do you tonight," he said.
The reports then say:
He grabbed her, wrangled her to the garage and slammed her onto the hood of the car parked in the garage.
The wife blacked out for a few seconds, then heard her son demand that his father leave her alone.
She heard a bang. A second later, her husband fell to the garage floor.
At 7:46 p.m., authorities received a 911 call. The husband was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center.
By late Monday night, the home was deserted. A pickup was parked in the driveway in front of a basketball net on the dark street of the quiet subdivision.
On Tuesday, investigators said it remained unclear where the boy got the handgun.
The father faces a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery after an incident in November, court records show. His wife was not listed as the complainant. The case is pending.
Helping kids in violent homes
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are trying to reach out to children who live in homes filled with domestic violence as a way to stop the problem.
Almost a year ago, police and other agencies began Operation Youth Awareness. Detectives have visited three middle schools and worked with seventh- and eighth-graders in five sessions, discussing safety, their rights and how to get help.
The teen involved in Monday's shooting is a ninth- grader in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district, according to CMS officials. It's unclear whether he went through Operation Youth Awareness last year as an eighth-grader.
Eventually, Suarez said, she hopes the department can visit all the county's middle schools. For now, though, she said they are limited because they have only five detectives.
She said the program has been powerful and has won an award from Police Chief Darrel Stephens.
The students' issues surprised even longtime detectives.
"We got some really heavy questions from these kids," Suarez said.
The Numbers
• Nearly three of every four women who are chronically mistreated by their partners have children.• An estimated 3 million or more children are exposed to acts of domestic violence nationwide each year.
• In one in five domestic violence homicides and attempted homicides, a child of the battered woman is also killed in the process.
SOURCE: N.C. Coalition of Against Domestic Violence
Tips for Kids
• If you witness violence between your parents, do not intervene.
• Find a safe place and call 911.
SOURCE: Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Sgt. Vicky Suarez
) colostomy bag still is drawing precious oxygen that could be better used by real human beings....