Posted on 08/16/2004 2:04:13 PM PDT by tx4guns
HOUSTON -- A 5-year-old girl's stepfather accidentally shot and killed the child after mistaking her for a burglar, according to law officers.
Struck in the chest with a single bullet, Alejandra Hernandez died Sunday after she was taken to LBJ Hospital in Houston.
Agun Ortega Pina told police he heard suspicious noises and reached for his gun about 1 a.m. He shot when someone tried to open the door of the bedroom where he and his wife were sleeping.
But the person Pina thought was breaking into his bedroom was actually his stepdaughter, who just wanted to be with her parents.
Pina, 25, of Houston has not been charged in the tragic case of mistaken identity. But police say the case will instead be referred to the Harris County Grand Jury.
Silverio Portillo said he was staying at the home when Pina fired the round that struck the child in the chest.
"I just woke up and Alejandra was right there on the floor," Portillo told the Houston Chronicle through an interpreter for Monday's editions.
Portillo said he then helped the parents carry their wounded child to the family's van.
"She was alive -- she was breathing," he said.
A family friend spoke with Pina soon after the little girl was shot at the Northeast Houston home.
"He has a broken heart," said Max Gutierrez. "He told me, 'I can't believe it. I feel bad."'
Shocked neighbors gathered across the street from the small woodframed house. They are helping with family expenses, distributing plastic buckets with the victim's photo in area restaurants and businesses. They said burglaries were a concern in the area.
"The family was very happy," said Sammy Gomez, a next-door neighbor. "We're all friends here."
Eleven-year-old Juan Rodriguez' parents told him about his best friend's death.
"She liked to play right here in the street," he said. "She was like my little sister. She liked to share everything."
Not that I know of, but I'm kinda tall, so I overlook some things.
If there are other people living in the house, one wouldn't choose to open fire at a noise. You would want a wider choice of weapons. A club of some kind would work and would be a lot safer to the rest of the household.
"Where did I blame the child?"
Ok, maybe I should have said this. To imply that the shooting could have been avoided if better manners had been taught to this poor child is like saying the war against terrorism wouldn't be necessary if people were taught not to stand around, innocently, in buildings.
There are two possible reasons for this shooting, in my opinion:
1) The idiot holding the gun truly thought this was an intruder and didn't verify his target before pulling the trigger. I believe the point has been made over and over that even the most well-mannered child would forget to knock if she is terrified.
2) He meant to shoot her...in which case, good manners wouldn't have saved her.
In summary, the "knocking" issue is really a non-issue..lol
Same here.
Exactly. This plus the fact that he hit a 5 year old girl in the chest (which is about 24 inches off the ground) makes me suspicious of the shooter's story. Why was he aiming 24 inches off the ground to stop an intruder he could not as yet see?
I know you weren't aiming that at me, you don't know me. The fact is though that a whole lot of the stuff we hear about the evil step parent, came from the old fairy tales and from Hollywood Fiction.
I don't know if anyone has ever done an in depth investigation into whether children are safer and fare better with a natural parent or with their step parent has ever been done. I would suspect though that if such a study were to happen-steps and natural parents as a whole, would come out about even.
I will be the first to say, that in the best of all worlds, every child would be much better off if they were raised and nurtured by their natural parents-only a fool would argue against this logic. But a child that loses a parent to either death or divorce, has a better chance of recovering from that trauma with someone else to at least partially fill that void and be there for them.
Well, hello there, GS!
I don't think I'm jumping to conclusions in thinking that I wouldn't shoot so fast. With the way the anti-gun people are....... I always have that, in the back of my mind.
There isn't really anything to argue about here.
The guy shot a 5 year old in the chest, when he thought an adult was breaking into his bedroom.
What in the world do you think he was aiming at?
He shot waaaaay too low, to be aiming at an adult. That's all I'm saying.
Even with a high crime district, some one who keeps a weapon on hand, surely doesn't just start shooting at every noise in the dark.
But, that's okay, you can think the way you want to.
And I'll think I want to.
That's what freedom is all about.
There have been studies done, and they have found that a biologically unrelated adult male living in the home is the single biggest threat to a child's life. Married stepfathers are a lower risk than the casual shack-up boyfriends, but still a higher risk than natural fathers. Many male mammals have an instinct to kill the offspring of other males, and humans are no exception.
I've seen those studies too. Sad, but true.
It would be extremely interesting to know just who or what made those studies and exactly what their qualifications were for making such a study.
Humans may be classified as mamals at the very basic level of our development, but the very essence of being human is our ability to allow conscience and reason to over rule instinct.
Judging from a couple of cases before the Courts today, it would appear that the natural father is very likely to murder the Mother of his child along with his child that she is carrying.
Step parents as a rule, happen by just in time to retrieve ,treasure and nourish those that another man just tossed aside as junk. You have heard the phrase, "one man's junk, is another man's treasure"havent you?
The decision to abort babies is never made by a step parent, but by the natural parent.
No one is saying there aren't a lot of wonderful stepfathers out there. But statistically, they are a greater risk to children than biological fathers.
He shot through to door, without even raising his voice to say 'Who's there?'
This story stinks to high heaven.
And in this case there apparently were at least two biologically unrelated adult males living in that home with that child. I wonder if the "step-father" in this case was legally married to the little girl's mother or if this is one of those usual common-law situations where the men just moved in.
Still waiting to hear the source of those statistics.
Two last names is not unusual among Hispanic families, from wherever they came or even those born into twentieth generation American families.
THe tradition likely originated in Spain.
The funny thing, at least to us Gringos, is that dad's name is the former and mom's is the later.
And yes, my Puerto Rican friends are originally from Espana.
The gun control nuts will seize this. However, it is a case of not being properly schooled in firearm safety and techniques (target verification, as previously mentioned), or knowing better and panicking (which is inexcusable). That being said, there is nothing the courts can do to this man that will be anywhere near as bad as what he will do to himself every day for the rest of his life. Our prayers should be with this family. May the little girl rest in peace. This is just so awful.
People do strange things when still shaking the cobwebs out after waking up, and not yet in a full state of conciousness.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.