A 12-year-old South Carolina boy was fatally shot Friday in what authorities say was an accident during a target-shooting outing.
The victim was identified as Joseph Baily of More, South Carolina. The shooting occurred in the 8400 block of Bay Road in Carroll County’s Lee Township, southeast of Carrollton.
“It was an accident,” county Sheriff Dale Williams said Monday. “It (shooter) was a juvenile. It was a brother. His brother was 11 years old.”
Sheriff deputies were notified of the incident at 5:14 p.m. Friday.
The boy was pronounced dead at the scene by the Carroll County coroner. The Stark County coroner’s staff will conduct the autopsy.
“They were actually target shooting,” Carroll County Coroner Mandal Haas said. “They were visiting a friend they knew here in Ohio. This was real ammunition. It was a head wound.”
The weapon was a handgun.
The eleven year old saw a gun lying unsupervised on a picnic table.
He picked it up.
The gun went off.
And now his brother's life is over, and his life will never be the same.
Just another day where the 2nd Amendment is protecting our freedoms.
OMG..Another child shooting. This country is just out of control. Why are children even allowed to handle and have access to guns.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son (who is now 44) was a child, I never bought, or wouldn't even let him play with toy guns, but these children today are allowed to handle real runs.
How far is this going to go before the American public will say enough is enough? NO other civilized country in the world has the gun violence problem that we have here in the US.
Amen to that, and the closest thing our son (now 30) had to toy weaponry was a Nerf bow and arrow.
DeleteThis country's "leadership" (staring at YOU, Congress) has lost its mind.
Yes, Congress has lost its mind, but it only reflects its electorate who vote them in (or get elected through voter suppression, dark money, lying ad campaigns, gerrymandering...)
DeleteAnd once in, they don't listen to the "will of the people" -- why is that? Are they only listening to the NRA or the Koch Bros.
If Democrats don't vote this time around to get rid of the obstructive Republicans, these deaths are on the Democrats' heads. Remember 2012 and be ashamed.
Kids have always been allowed to handle real guns throughout our country's history. And other kids had parents who wouldn't let them have toy guns.
DeleteSetting aside mass shootings, it's hard to know if incidences like this increasing or if we are just hearing about them more readily. The data on this kind of gun violence isn't well collected.
The peak of violent crime in this country was 1993. That would have been when your son was coming of age. The news reported drive-by shootings seemingly every day. We didn't hear as much about shootings that occurred in rural and suburban neighborhoods but they were there, too. They were just kept to local news or not reported at all. But I remember hearing about kids finding guns and shooting friends or siblings. I remember it because in the 1980s, my parents warned me and my siblings about what we should do if we were at a friend's house and the friends wanted to show us his/her father's gun.
I also remember in high school (I'm just a couple years older than your son), a kid we all knew shot himself in the shoulder after playing around with a gun and I remember more than one case where someone (even a kid in one case) was shot by a fellow hunter.
The difference is that now we hear about every shooting that happens in little or big towns or cities near and far away from us. That's a good thing because maybe some people will finally wake up and realize we've got a problem that needs a real solution.
The money these clowns in DC get from the NRA is tainted with the blood of innocents. KARMA really will be a bitch when she finally strikes. I read that more kids are shot to death each year than police officers.
Deletethat should be *guns not runs. In my 4:24 AM comment
DeleteI'm sick to death of this kind of killing being called an "accident". Require gun owners to carry insurance on their weapons so when a killing such as this occurs the gun owners must at least accept some bit of responsibility instead of the "get out of jail free" excuse of "it was an accident" or "It was God's will."
ReplyDeleteThe adult who owned that weapon should be charged with manslaughter
Delete@ 5:49 - I agree. A gun owner who would leave a loaded firearm on a picnic table is criminally negligent and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
DeleteThere seems to be so many of these gun loving idiots who, contrary to what the NRA claims, are not 'responsible' with their weapons; just leaving them anywhere a young person can have easy access. Calling a preventable death due to some careless adult such as this one, accidental, is truly sickening.
INCIDENTS LIKE THESE ARE NOT ACCIDENTS!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd this will happen again .... tomorrow .... somewhere else in the US ....
ReplyDeleteVery Sad ... but pro life conservatives cant see ban guns = pro life .
33 GUN DEATHS EVERY FUCKING DAY IN THE USA UNTIL?????? WE only can blame ourselves..
DeleteIt's amazing to me that guns aren't required by law to be sold with trigger locks.
ReplyDeleteThe gun owner should be held responsible.
ReplyDeleteSo many ideas have been put forth on how to minimize 'accidents' with guns. NONE have been formally/legally implemented. Completely stupid. The whole 'you're not going to tell ME what to do!' mentality is part of the problem. Certain people have latched onto that mindset and they refuse to hear reasonable discussion. I honestly think they don't care what happens with their guns. Kids die? Well their fault, clearly. We own multiple guns - they are in a GUN SAFE with trigger locks. My husband is ex-Army. We hunt. Only a complete IDIOT would leave any weapon within reach of another person, adult or child. I agree with the PP - guns should come with liability insurance that carries a heavy fine and/or jail time if your gun is used to kill or injure someone else. Now if you shoot your own self, that's just too bad.
ReplyDeleteAn "accident"? I don't think so. Perhaps it was only an accident in that it wasn't an intentional, premeditated murder.
ReplyDeleteThe adult who left the gun lying around might YET be prosecuted for this crime.
"While the shooting was accidental, Carroll County authorities, however, could file criminal charges. Those charges could be filed against who ever failed to secure the weapon."
Elsie
Why are these type "z" gun owners so irresponsible as to allow kids around loaded guns (even if they've been trained). Why does the weapon, that can instantly kill, have priority over a human life?
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder if these killings are from families that are so anti-liberal, anti-gun control, anti-government, anti-anything Obama that they would be willing to let their child die accidentally, and see that child as a hero, and as a way of sticking it to the man. I wonder if these families even 'care' about their kids more than their RIGHT to carry.
The remarks by Carson yesterday about it better to have a body riddled with holes than to ever lose a right to bear arms and a right to freedoms to bear arms is that 'attitude' that we are seeing with these right-wing fringe nuts. The obstinate and defiant "anti-Obama" sentiment is also a factor here. Their hate is so great that it overcomes any common sense, even when it comes to their loved ones.
The gun culture of America has been revived because of hate, and the irresponsible use of these guns around children is their way being that hero they WISH they could be. They haven't volunteered in the army because they're lazy or cowards, they want to create their own heroism by strutting around with loaded guns, hoping for a fight, even at the expense of losing a child.
This would be the exact same thing as if a family left their pool fence unlocked and a toddler from next door wandered in and drowned. That family would be held responsible.
ReplyDeleteONLY if a LAW says so......
Delete6:53 - your backyard pool example is spot-on. That's exactly how owning guns should be viewed - a potential deadly liability that may provide the owner with some enjoyment but the general public will be protected with legal safeguards and the owner putting a fence around the potential danger.
ReplyDeleteMeh. Stuff happens.
ReplyDeleteYour pal,
JEB!
future leader of the free world and brother of unindicted war criminal/worst president in modern era.
An unsupervised loaded gun laying on a picnic table when 11 year old boys are nearby is not and accident. It's negligent homicide.
ReplyDeleteThese people can call it an "accident" all they want. I call them "murderers".
FUCK!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/boehner-democrats-gun-control_561538e8e4b0fad1591a3c22
"The gun went off"?
ReplyDeletePah!!!
The gun was deliberately pointed at his brother's head, and the trigger was deliberately pulled.
Children hate. Children are jealous. Children fear. And children do not understand the consequences of acting out their fantasies. But this was no accident.
If these guns were firing accidentally, how come so many of them target the faces of other children? How come they don't accidentally hit knees, shoulders, other non-lethal areas... even a stomach wound is survivable.
An investigator ought to examine the targets used (were they head & torso?) to assess the accuracy of this young shooter. Did his brother do better?
An investigator also ought to examine the family dynamics, and how others related to these boys. Teacher's pet? Stole girlfriend? Had to share a bedroom? Secrets?
Calling these situations "accidents" and covering up for the crime doesn't make the bad blood go away... or lessen the likelihood that there will be other "accidents."
"an accident"
ReplyDelete"The gun went off"
No worries, they're juveniles and it'll be expunged from the permanent record - except for the "target"'s autopsy report. Guns don't kill peop;e, kids playing target kill people.
The NRA and gun makers have blood on their hands.
This family is in a great deal of pain. They are neither negligent or irresponsible. No one on this page knows the entire details. The family is personal friends, and you have NO IDEA! I can not believe the comments being made here.
ReplyDeleteFirst I want to make a comment on a earlier post on this article. A person made a statement claiming no other country has as much gun violence in sorry but my father was deployed in Iraq 2terms missed a lot of my childhood I am now 16 turning 17 others April. But think about peices of the history with 😆 this is a good point but Iran and Syria have been very violent in the past few years.
ReplyDelete