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Loaded handgun taken from tot
Girl, 1&1/2;, had pointed it at 4-year-old visitor
By T.J. PIGNATARO and VANESSA THOMAS
News Staff Reporters
8/18/2005
An 18-month-old girl reportedly pointed a carelessly stored, loaded .22-caliber revolver at a 4-year-old girl Wednesday morning before she was disarmed by the girl's mother, police said.
The child's father, Tamone Henderson, 21, of Guilford Street, located at his place of work in Amherst a few hours after the incident in a Rother Avenue residence, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child.
Laquita Ross, 27, of Broadway in Lancaster, her 7-year-old son and her daughter, Dinah, were visiting Ross' close friend Santana Ladd, 19, when Ladd's daughter, Symone Henderson, emerged from her bedroom with the small, silver-plated gun.
"We were sitting on the couch and my 4-year-old came out and Symone came out, too. My daughter said, "Mom, she got a gun. I took it away once, and she's trying to shoot me,' " Ross told The Buffalo News on Wednesday evening. "I took the gun away and put it in my purse."
At first, she said she wasn't sure if the gun was real. When she took it away, however, there was no mistaking its authenticity. The gun was hard steel and heavy, she told police.
Ross left the house, got into her car and immediately called police.
She was directed to a nearby police station, where she turned in the weapon.
Although Ross says Ladd reassured her that the gun was "broken" and not loaded before she fled the Rother Avenue house, police determined otherwise.
"She nearly passed out when she brought it into us and we opened it up and she saw the bullets," said Ferry-Fillmore District Detective Charles G. Militello.
The gun was fully loaded with six bullets. Police said the gun was not legally registered.
Henderson told police he found the gun earlier Wednesday morning in a field and brought it over to his girlfriend's house, where he left it in his daughter's bedroom, according to police reports.
"He said he was in a hurry to go to work," said Ferry-Fillmore Lt. Gail Allen said. "To me, that's no excuse. Have respect for a weapon."
Ladd told police that Henderson was at work for an area temp agency, but she didn't know the name. Militello and Detective Mary Evans called about a dozen local agencies before finding the one where Henderson worked.
Officers Daniel R. O'Neill and Lori A. Kmidowski located Henderson after 1 p.m. on Millersport Highway in Amherst making a delivery and arrested him.
Child Protective Services also was called in to investigate.
Ross claims she has been threatened by friends and relatives of Henderson and Ladd, who say she should have tossed the gun away instead of involving police.
"Some of those people say I should have handled it in a different way. I say I am blessed to have my daughter and the little girl with me instead of reading about their brief lives in the obituaries," Ross said. "That's the real picture."
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050818/1006201.asp
Girl, 1&1/2;, had pointed it at 4-year-old visitor
By T.J. PIGNATARO and VANESSA THOMAS
News Staff Reporters
8/18/2005
An 18-month-old girl reportedly pointed a carelessly stored, loaded .22-caliber revolver at a 4-year-old girl Wednesday morning before she was disarmed by the girl's mother, police said.
The child's father, Tamone Henderson, 21, of Guilford Street, located at his place of work in Amherst a few hours after the incident in a Rother Avenue residence, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child.
Laquita Ross, 27, of Broadway in Lancaster, her 7-year-old son and her daughter, Dinah, were visiting Ross' close friend Santana Ladd, 19, when Ladd's daughter, Symone Henderson, emerged from her bedroom with the small, silver-plated gun.
"We were sitting on the couch and my 4-year-old came out and Symone came out, too. My daughter said, "Mom, she got a gun. I took it away once, and she's trying to shoot me,' " Ross told The Buffalo News on Wednesday evening. "I took the gun away and put it in my purse."
At first, she said she wasn't sure if the gun was real. When she took it away, however, there was no mistaking its authenticity. The gun was hard steel and heavy, she told police.
Ross left the house, got into her car and immediately called police.
She was directed to a nearby police station, where she turned in the weapon.
Although Ross says Ladd reassured her that the gun was "broken" and not loaded before she fled the Rother Avenue house, police determined otherwise.
"She nearly passed out when she brought it into us and we opened it up and she saw the bullets," said Ferry-Fillmore District Detective Charles G. Militello.
The gun was fully loaded with six bullets. Police said the gun was not legally registered.
Henderson told police he found the gun earlier Wednesday morning in a field and brought it over to his girlfriend's house, where he left it in his daughter's bedroom, according to police reports.
"He said he was in a hurry to go to work," said Ferry-Fillmore Lt. Gail Allen said. "To me, that's no excuse. Have respect for a weapon."
Ladd told police that Henderson was at work for an area temp agency, but she didn't know the name. Militello and Detective Mary Evans called about a dozen local agencies before finding the one where Henderson worked.
Officers Daniel R. O'Neill and Lori A. Kmidowski located Henderson after 1 p.m. on Millersport Highway in Amherst making a delivery and arrested him.
Child Protective Services also was called in to investigate.
Ross claims she has been threatened by friends and relatives of Henderson and Ladd, who say she should have tossed the gun away instead of involving police.
"Some of those people say I should have handled it in a different way. I say I am blessed to have my daughter and the little girl with me instead of reading about their brief lives in the obituaries," Ross said. "That's the real picture."
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050818/1006201.asp
