5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister in Kentucky
Published: May 1, 2013 2:06 PM
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BURKESVILLE, Ky. - A 5-year-old boy accidentally shot his 2-year-old sister to death in rural southern Kentucky with a rifle he had received as a gift last year, authorities said.
The children's mother was home at the time of the shooting Tuesday afternoon but had stepped on to the porch for "no more than three minutes," Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told WKYT-TV.

White told the Lexington Herald-Leader the boy received the .22-caliber rifle as a gift. He said the rifle was kept in a corner and the family didn't realize a bullet was left inside it.

"It's a Crickett," White said, referring to a company that specifically makes guns, clothes and books for children. "It's a little rifle for a kid. ... The little boy's used to shooting the little gun."

White said the shooting was an accident.

It wasn't immediately clear who gave the boy the gun or exactly what led up to the shooting. White did not return a telephone call from The Associated Press on Wednesday.

State police said in a brief news release the shooting occurred when the boy was "playing" with the rifle, but did not elaborate. It is not clear whether any charges will be filed, said Kentucky State Police spokesman Trooper Billy Gregory. "I think it's too early to say whether there will or won't be," Gregory said Wednesday.

Keystone Sporting Arms, based in Milton, Penn., produced 60,000 Crickett and Chipmunk rifles in 2008, according to its website. It also makes guns for adults, but most of its products are geared toward children.

The company's slogan is "my first rifle" and its website has a "Kids Corner" section where pictures of young boys and girls are displayed, most of them showing the children at shooting ranges and on bird and deer hunts. The smaller rifles are sold with a mount to use at a shooting range.

"The goal of KSA is to instill gun safety in the minds of youth shooters and encourage them to gain the knowledge and respect that hunting and shooting activities require and deserve," the website said.

No one at the company answered the phone Wednesday. According to its website, Bill McNeal and his son Steve McNeal decided to make guns for young shooters in the mid-1990s and opened Keystone in 1996 with just four employees, producing 4,000 rifles that year. It now employs about 70 people.

Burkesville sits near the Tennessee-Kentucky state line along the Cumberland River, among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The small city is about 90 miles northeast of Nashville, Tenn. It is home to a Mennonite community that gained attention in 2010 when nine of its members were killed in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

A five year old gets a gun as a gift??????????????

And it was "Kept in the corner"??????????????


Are you effing kidding me?

So tragic and so preventable.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

they make rifles for LITTLE KIDS?

what the ****?!?



That poor little girl.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

I have no words........poor little baby.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Posted by cds58019

So tragic and so preventable.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

stupid. A REAL WORKING RIFLE? for a 5 year old?????? come on!!!!!

eta: with real bullets??? left loaded...out in the open??? WTF people. you're smarter than that...or well...I guess not

Message edited 5/1/2013 4:25:42 PM.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

"My first rifle"! Because there is no better way to teach your child about gun safety than to give them a WORKING miniature LOADED gun and set it in the corner.

ETA: I just had to find out more so I went to the crickett site. Apparently not only was a loaded gun left in the corner, but also, it needs to be unlocked with a key for it to shoot! What the fluck is wrong with this woman?!

Link to Crickett's FAQs.

Message edited 5/1/2013 4:30:06 PM.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Yes they make guns for kids.. not all parents however are not so lax with their care of them.

Google Dylan Holsey

He's been shooting since he was 5. He is now a pro at 13 and amazing.

I am very sad for the family.... but I'm sorry.. i blame the parents on this one. so sad.. so very preventable!






ETA: because it bugs me

Are these the same people who would leave a grenade with their son and the pin just BEGGING to be pulled?

The same who would let a toddler play in a crib near a box of open needles?

Let a toddler rummage through a cabinet filled with poisons?

Seriously people! Come ON! Grr.. Why in gods name would you just leave a gun loaded and accessible / unsupervised in front of a child… like.. EVER?!

Message edited 5/1/2013 4:38:15 PM.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Horrific. When will people learn?

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Posted by Xelindrya

Yes they make guns for kids.. not all parents however are not so lax with their care of them.

Google Dylan Holsey

He's been shooting since he was 5. He is now a pro at 13 and amazing.

I am very sad for the family.... but I'm sorry.. i blame the parents on this one. so sad.. so very preventable!

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

"It's a little rifle for a kid. "
What is the point of that?
Why does a kid need a rifle?
Why?
I don't get it.
That is the most assinine thing I have ever heard in my freakin life.
It's not a toy.
Jesus.

5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Apparently we don't need gun control, we need parent control.

Message edited 5/1/2013 4:55:10 PM.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Message edited 5/1/2013 6:15:06 PM.

5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

No. Just no. There is NO instance where a gun is ok for a kid. I don't care how much of a pro shooter he'll be as a teenager. REALLY? That is what we're aspiring to for our kids??? Come on. This is the most asinine thing I've ever heard. There is absolutely no justification for a gun marketed for kids. None. I cannot believe this is a real story, and there are people THAT stupid out there.

Message edited 5/1/2013 8:10:30 PM.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Let's just condone violence shall we? What parent in their right mind could think this is ok? It's mind boggling what this world is coming to.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Horrible & so tragic.
I come from a long line of hunters ( Dad, Uncles, BIL's, DH) NEVER have I nor my kids ever seen the guns. They are kept locked up in a vault.
It only takes a second to change your life forever

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Yeah I can't even anymore. And sad thing is, the gun zealots still can't see a need for reform despite cases like these. If they'd just back down and say "Wow, something isn't right" I'd have more respect for them....

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

sorry, I should probably clarify the people i know who taught their kids to shoot NEVER started at 5...I meant young like 12-15 when they start teaching their boys how to hunt and aim...not young like 5. At that age there is just no need at all.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Posted by cds58019

A five year old gets a gun as a gift??????????????

And it was "Kept in the corner"??????????????


Are you effing kidding me?

So tragic and so preventable.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Message edited 5/2/2013 1:04:14 AM.

Re: 5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister

Horrible! So preventable. Uuggh.