http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/01/us/new-mexico-toddler-shoots-parents/
A toddlers parents have been charged with child abuse. The parents were charged because their own 3-year-old shot them both. The shooting happened on a Saturday afternoon at a motel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The two parents were shot after the 3-year-old grabbed a .45 caliber pistol from the mother’s purse and fire one shot. The shot had hit both the father and the pregnant mother, talk about a crack shot.
On Thursday the couple were arrested on a child abuse without great bodily harm charge. The boy and his 2-year-old sister were not injured. Both parents were treated at a local hospital and released.
The child came into possession of the gun when he had jumped up and managed to grab his mother’s handbag from the top of a small refrigerator. The refrigerator was 3 feet high, the .45 caliber handgun was in the bag. The gun was purchased earlier that day. Then the toddler had fired a single shot that managed to strike both adults.
According to the report the parents “acted with reckless disregard for the safety and or health” of their children. The father is a convicted felon, as a felon you’re not allowed to be around guns or own guns. The parents of the crack shot toddler were being held Friday at the Bernalillo County Metro Detention Center. Their bond is set at $15,000 each.
I don’t necessarily see this as child abuse, more or less it was an accident that shouldn’t have happened.
Andrew Powers • May 26, 2015 at 12:55 pm
Not only should they have had a safe, but every gun owner knows you don’t keep a loaded gun, with the safety off, and cocked, just laying around. But you cant charge all stupid parents with child abuse.
marielena0221 • May 13, 2015 at 2:04 pm
This is not child abuse, is just called having parents that aren’t able to be responsible with their kids. This accident could have been worse. People should be more educated not only for their own good, but for their kids as well.
Doug • Feb 27, 2015 at 9:54 am
This isn’t child abuse if the children are not treated with acts of violence from parents abusively. the gun should have been put in a safe or hidden away from child’s reach. Anyway this just shows how people who own guns not in general but to a certain degree are uneducated in keeping their guns safe from children, like gun locks should be purchased along with every gun. A 3 year old shooting his parents, he probably thought it was a toy and accidental fire; seriously you can’t possibly think that he managed to load a gun, release the safety pin, load a mag an shoot his parents.
Austin • Feb 25, 2015 at 8:42 am
In my opinion I think we need more evidence of child abuse because all we have is “the child shot the parents” basically. There could be multiple scenarios in this type of situation.We can’t just assume the child shot the parents because he was being abused, the child is only 3 and at that age children usually don’t know what they are doing.
Nick07 • Feb 24, 2015 at 2:31 pm
This is a good article, but it does not show acts of child abuse. If there is signs of abuse on the toddlers body then i would have a different opinion. The todler might not of knew what he was doing and thought it was a a game and shot his parents, or he the toddler could have done this out of agression or abuse. There has to be more information to conclude that this was child abuse.
Regan • Feb 23, 2015 at 2:27 pm
There are a few seemingly important aspects missing from the story; Was the gun legal?, did the child know what he was doing, and if so why was he angry at them? In my opinion no one should be charged with child abuse in this situation, unless more information comes out. It doesn’t make much sense to charge the people who took the bullet, but nor does it make sense to charge a 3 year old. In my opinion this doesn’t show any evidence of legitimate child abuse.