Boy who shot grandmother thought gun was a toy

[Imogene_Agape_Weasley]

An 8-year-old Louisiana boy who shot and killed his elderly grandmother after playing a violent video game told authorities "he thought it was a toy gun," East Feliciana Parish District Attorney Samuel D'Aquilla said on Tuesday.

The boy, whose name was not disclosed, is not charged with a crime and has been released to his parents. Louisiana law prevents children under 10 from facing criminal charges, on the assumption that they are not mature enough to have criminal intent, D'Aquilla said.

The boy did not appear to have murder in mind when he pointed the handgun at the back of 87-year-old Marie Smothers' head and pulled the trigger last week, D'Aquilla said.

"He doesn't know that if you point a gun at somebody, it kills them and they're gone forever," D'Aquilla said. "It's not because he is a cold-blooded killer and he did this to kill his grandmother."

D'Aquilla said the boy was "really shaken up" by what happened.

The shooting happened Thursday evening about 100 miles northwest of New Orleans in Slaughter, Louisiana, authorities said.

Police had initially said the boy intentionally shot Smothers as she sat in her living room, and noted in their report that the boy had just finished playing the violent video game "Grand Theft Auto IV."

On Tuesday, D'Aquilla said it was "very difficult" for prosecutors to say the boy wanted Smothers dead.

"Whether you can link it back to Grand Theft Auto, I don't know," he said. "In my mind, I would say it's something the kids don't need to be seeing because it distorts reality."

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, whose Rockstar Games studio develops the Grand Theft Auto games, said in a statement on Monday that it was shocked by the shooting.

The company said the event "emphasizes the urgent need for America to address the availability of dangerous weapons to people who obviously shouldn't have access to them."



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[Omnileech]

Throw the parents, or whoever owned that gun in prison. No gun should ever be left unsecured and its time that people be held accountable.

[FirstBornTripletZack]

Is this the same article that happened about a month ago or is this another set of clueless parents that let a child have access to a gun.

[xdivision_whitey]

Omnileech

Throw the parents, or whoever owned that gun in prison. No gun should ever be left unsecured and its time that people be held accountable.

Sounds to me like granny owned it. You are also right guns should be put in a safe secure area.

[Tuah]

Parents teaching their children that toys are guns?

I believe it.

[Tsuki_Kirkland]

Here is a perfect example of why we need to restrict guns to some people . People are leaving them where children can get them or not teaching kids that they are not toys but a dangerous weapon. That is dangerous and why many kids have died. Something has to be done.

That poor child is now going to have to live with the fact that he killed his grandma for the rest of his life. What a burden to carry.

[Shama_okami]

I hope their insurance covers a lifetime of psychiatry.

[PrincessSakuya258]

Everyone in that family sounds very educated. Why show GTAV when the article mentions 4?

[Yuki_Windira]

No wonder this kid is messed up in the head,his parents never bothered to teach him fact from fiction or that real guns aren't toys like Nerfs.

Oh and the fact that they seem to keep buying him games for MATURE audiences only.>->;

[Steam Punk Adept]

I'm guessing that it was through the boy's attorney, paid for by his parents, that the idea of the gun being a toy came from. That said, this kid has now been taught that it's ok for him to break the law, and that rules don't apply to him because he's a special little snowflake.

I go out, and commit a crime, EVEN IF BY ACCIDENT, as they're claiming this to be, I'm probably going to jail, and being sentenced to some time. But no, this special little snowflake doesn't have to follow the rules, and in a few years, he could very well look back on this, realize he got away with murder, and commit other crimes thinking he can't be punished. This kid should face some charges and some kind of sentencing.

[washu_2004]

A gun sitting unsecured in a place where an 8 year old can easily get access to it is far more of a problem than video games, It should be mandatory for gun owners to store their firearms in a gun safe when they are not being used. Responsible gun ownership would of prevented this incident, not banning video games like the NRA wants to do as part of their "blame everything except guns" campaign.

[Kai-Shan Valandria]

washu_2004

A gun sitting unsecured in a place where an 8 year old can easily get access to it is far more of a problem than video games, It should be mandatory for gun owners to store their firearms in a gun safe when they are not being used. Responsible gun ownership would of prevented this incident, not banning video games like the NRA wants to do as part of their "blame everything except guns" campaign.

While obviously gun storage is especially important with children around, there shouldn't be yet another law passed to have guns kept in safes at all times. As someone without kids, I'd vastly prefer to have something within easy reach in case of burglars. After all, they're not going to wait while you unlock your safe, remove the trigger locks, load it, and then "Oh okay, I'm ready now! *blam*"

The NRA also isn't the problem here, the kid and his farked-up family are.

[Umbral_Necropolitan]

washu_2004

A gun sitting unsecured in a place where an 8 year old can easily get access to it is far more of a problem than video games, It should be mandatory for gun owners to store their firearms in a gun safe when they are not being used. Responsible gun ownership would of prevented this incident, not banning video games like the NRA wants to do as part of their "blame everything except guns" campaign.

Is it just California that requires guns to either be kept in a safe or have a lock on them?

[Special Agent York]

I can't believe someone would have an intelligence level so low, that they would leave a gun in reach of an eight year old child.

[Keltoi Samurai]

Omnileech

Throw the parents, or whoever owned that gun in prison. No gun should ever be left unsecured and its time that people be held accountable.

I agree.

Never leave a loaded firearm unsecured where little hands might get it, always assume every firearm is always loaded . . . these are beyond remedial-level s**t.

Though, one has to wonder if the weapon might have belonged to the woman who was shot. If that is what happened, then one has to admit that her being the victim is really a best-case scenario ( as much as any situation where a child shooting someone else accidentally can be said to have a "best case scenario," anyhow ).