3-year-old shot by 4-year old brother

Mlive/AP ^ | 11-18-03

[Dan from Michigan]

3-year-old shot by 4-year old brother

The Associated Press
11/18/2003, 7:38 p.m. ET

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — A 4-year-old boy shot his 3-year-old brother to death after apparently unlocking a home safe where a handgun had been stored, police said.

West Valley Police Captain Craig Black said the 4-year-old apparently found the keys to the safe, unlocked it and used the handgun inside to shoot his brother in the head. The 3-year-old died at the scene.

The children's mother was home when the shooting occurred in this Salt Lake City suburb.

"It appears to be an accidental shooting at this time and we're investigating how the child got the gun," Black said.

Police were called just after noon Tuesday, Black said.

[scooter2]

So much for "safe storage". The safest place for my handgun is in its holster on my right hip.

[spodefly]

... the 4-year-old apparently found the keys to the safe, unlocked it and used the handgun inside to shoot his brother in the head. The 3-year-old died at the scene. The children's mother was home when the shooting occurred in this Salt Lake City suburb.

There is more to this story than is being told here.

[dead]

I was just about to say that the four year old couldn't have opened the safe. Then I remembered my four year old, and he definitely could open a safe if he found the key.

[wimpycat]

I have a feeling the gun safe wasn't locked.

[coloradan]

I have a feeling that gun safes lead to complacency and neglect of proper behavior. "Oh, it's locked up, I don't need to worry about anything."

[DesertWalker]

There was a similar incident about five years ago in West Valley. A 13 or 14 year old boy found a hidden key to his father's gun safe, unlocked it, and took a revolver (.44 Magnum, I think). He then hijacked his school bus on the way to school, threw the driver out, and raced around waving the gun over his head as the cops chased him.

He then rammed the school bus into a house owned by a deputy sherrif. Everybody came out shooting, and the kid was killed. The parents weren't charged - the key had been hidden and the safe locked.

[Badray]

"There is more to this story than is being told here."

My thoughts too. Of course it's easier to blame it on a 4 y/o. He won't go to jail. I wonder what the trigger pull was like as well as the type of gun. Yep, lots of unanswered questions.

[DefCon]

True story from several years ago:
The three year daughter of a lady in my church,
pushed a dining room chair into the kitchen,
climbed up onto the chair,
then climbed up onto the kitchen counter,
then got the car keys from from the top of the refrigerator
(where the mother always put them for sarfe-keeping)
then went outside to the driveway,
then unlocked the car,
then got in,
then started it up,
then put it in gear,
and then proceeded to back out of the driveway,
and hit a pinetree and got stuck in a ditch by the road.
(no one was hurt - just the car and the tree)
When asked, "why?" the daughter said she just wanted
to go and visit one of her little friends.
-
I was amazed at how she put it all together and
maintained a train-of-thought for all of that.
Now I have raised three of my own and I know.
You have to watch them EVERY SINGLE MINUTE at that age.

[LibWhacker]

Man, been a lot of stories about 3 and 4-yr-old kids getting killed lately. Hate reading 'em.

Anyway, gotta feel sorry for this 4-yr-old. Normal life could be over for him. He'll always carry the guilt with him and it'll really screw him up. I used to work with a guy who was the only person present when his 3-yr-old brother fell into his parents' swimming pool and drowned. He was 4-yrs-old himself at the time. He was a major psychological disaster because his parents always held him responsible for his brother's death and let him know it.

[kingu]

Ghads, why do people keep guns in their homes and don't teach their children what a gun is and why they should leave it alone...

Yet another example for gun-grabbers to hold up, and a family shattered.

[get'emall]

I'm not buyin' it from this report. Something smells like yesterday's diapers.

[Bubba_Leroy]

To keep things in perspective, every day a child somewhere drowns in the toilet or is poisoned by window cleaner, but those don't make the national news.

[BCrago66]

It's a todler crime wave. I never trusted 'em to begin with.

[TopQuark]

The safest place for my handgun is in its holster on my right hip.

Are you telling us that no woman ever touched your hip?

[ChefKeith]

FYI

[riverrunner]

You are so right the 4 year old and the 3 year old should have been given some lessons bout the gun. They should have been showed it saw it fired saw the damaged it can produced. Told what it was for and wasn't for and told not to touch it with out his parents ok.I well bet you the 4 year old had no idea what a firearm was or is about.

My childred at those ages new the differants between toy guns and real guns.

[4mycountry]

Uh, do you need coffee?

[Sockdologer]

These things are too sad to comprehend.