Posted on 09/05/2025 8:28:10 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
WATERLOO, Ill. – More than six weeks after an Illinois girl was fatally wounded at a home in Waterloo, authorities have filed charges against two people for her death.
According to Sgt. Justin Biggs, a Monroe County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, deputies and EMS responded to a home in the 5900 block of State Route 3 on the afternoon of July 21.
Deputies arrived to find Emma Schultheis suffering from a gunshot wound. Schultheis was rushed to a St. Louis-area hospital, but she later succumbed to her injuries. She was 14.
The Illinois State Police Crime Scene Unit assisted the sheriff’s department in its investigation. On Aug. 26, the sheriff’s department submitted its findings to the county prosecutor.
Investigators believe Emma’s father, David A. Schultheis, 34, fired a Taurus .40 caliber pistol at a buzzard that had entered a brick building. David only stuck his arm into the room and kept his head outside the doorway to avoid a possible ricochet.
The bullet struck the buzzard, passed through the bird, exited a window, and struck Emma, who was outside.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at wcia.com ...
Very sad. He probably though the brick walls would stop the bullet, and they probably would have. But the bullet went out a window...
Not sure why he felt he needed to kill a buzzard...
Wow.
Nothing the State can do will be worse than what the poor b@st@rd is putting himself through. Better put him on suicide watch.
He was shooting at a buzzard that got inside the building.
There is no justice or public good that comes from these charges. That won’t stop a scumbag DA, but I repeat myself, from trying to inflict further harm on this family.
Wehad a similar incident in Utah many years ago. A dad was looking for a deer hunting site and his 3 year old son got lost. He called the cops and the whole sheriff spent most of the day interrogating him. By the time the search started is was near sun down with temps below freezing. The kid froze. The DA charged the grief stricken father who committed suicide the next day. Nothing ever happened to the pig sheriff.
This is precisely correct. Worse than a waste of taxpayer dollars and government resources, this is just cruelty to someone suffering from the consequences of a tragic accident. It's probably motivated by hatred of guns and a desire to punish gun owners at every opportunity.
He’s already paid a far steeper price than a court could ever hand out. Why make the whole family suffer even more? This zeal for punishing gun-owners is only serves the anti-gun crowd.
Man, that’s awful. Poor b@stard is right. He’ll never recover form that.
Not sure why he felt he needed to kill a buzzard...
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There’s a lesson here. Any bird trapped in a building will go to a window. Sadly, the dad didn’t do what any good shooter will always do and that is to know what lies beyond and behind your target, line of fire, and your rounds likely trajectory before you shoot. The dad didn’t put his head in the building because the percussion from the fired round would have likely damaged his eardrums.
Sad. If he’d just called Animal Control, his daughter would still be alive.
Very sad. There was a story years ago about a father who accidentally shot and killed his young son while hunting. The father was so distraught that he then shot and killed himself right there.
A dear friend had something similar happen. She will never get over the loss of her own child by her own hand.
There’s a lesson here. Any bird trapped in a building will go to a window.
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Not quite.
I get doves in my garage (doves admittedly not smart).
They won’t fly low enough to get from the peak at 14 feet, down to 8 feet to get out the door.
Well, bye and bye they do get out. I do not set up a watch to see how they do that. But they hoot and screech and flap a lot trying to escape.
INSIDE THE HOUSE BUZZARD
Well, bye and bye they do get out. I do not set up a watch to see how they do that. But they hoot and screech and flap a lot trying to escape.
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Your right on that point. I have pigeons in my old barn but they usually don’t enter through a door but some roof top vent or other high entry point, which as you say they usually figure out the way they got in. Now, when a bird gets in my car garage through the open garage door the darn thing will continue to fly against the inside window to get out until I shoo it away and then it will finally notice the open door and fly outside. I just couldn’t figure out how the round got outside unless through a window and while a ricochet is possible, I consider it as an unlikely way for it to have happened. I have even had birds fall into my down spouts and I’ll be darn if I’m going to rescue them in those situations.
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