Toddler killed after grandmother’s gun goes off in bed, New Orleans police say, the headline at nola.com proclaims, removing responsibility from either the grandma or the child who pulled the trigger. Call me harsh, but that ain’t right. It misses an important, perhaps even life-saving teachable moment on firearms safety. Like this: “A 3-year-old boy was fatally shot Wednesday morning (Jan. 20) while he was in bed sleeping with his grandmother [Deonca Kennedy, above], New Orleans police said. Authorities said he was shot by a gun under the pillow.” And again, like this . . .
According to preliminary information from the New Orleans Police Department, the shooting happened shortly after 2 a.m. in the 5600 block of Red Maple Drive in the Michoud area. The 45-year-old grandmother, who works as a security guard, told police she was sleeping in bed with her grandson when her semi-automatic gun, which was under the pillow, fired.
Sleeping with a gun under your pillow is a pretty stupid idea even when you’re not sharing your bed with a toddler. Something a “security professional” should know, but didn’t. Tragedy resulting, when the child in question violated at least two of the four safety rules. Apparently, this simple common sense conclusion is beyond the ken of the NOPD.
NOPD Chief Michael Harrison told our news partners at WVUE Fox 8 that its homicide and child abuse units were part of the investigation. He did not say what caused the gun to fire.
I think it’s safe to say the gun fired when the toddler pulled the trigger. A fact nola.com and the NOPD refuse to confront, to the detriment of its readers’ education.