911 call details how toddler fatally shot mom(FL)

msnbc.msn.com ^ | 25 April, 2011 | 911 call details how toddler fatally shot mom

[marktwain]

A momentary lapse in attention was all it took for a toddler to grab a loaded gun and fatally shoot his mother, a 911 call of the incident revealed Monday.

According to a man identified in the call as the 2-year-old boy's father, the boy grabbed the hand gun and before the man could get it away from the inquisitive child, the toddler had pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit Julia Bennett in the back, killing the 33-year-old Miramar woman.

[basil]

This is my question--would a 2 yr old have the hand strength and size to pull that trigger.? I'm a small woman, and there are many guns that I have to shoot using both hands because I'm not very strong.

This is a tragic situation, but the explanation for what happened does not pass the smell test IMHO.

[DTogo]

"The little boy take it up off the ground. He squeeze it and he shot his mom," the unidentified man told a 911 operator on April 20. "I was trying to take the gun from him. I can’t believe it."

The jury probably won't either.

[Molon Labbie]

Some people shouldn’t be allowed to breed, much less be around firearms, as demonstrated by this dad at a wedding.

Dad hands his roscoe to his two year old and Mr. Darwin steps in.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=053_1229002851

[MsLady]

Yes it is very rare and truly tragic. The lib press will make a huge deal about how none of us should have guns because of this. I know two families that this happened to. One family was going hunting and the one brothers gun accidentally discharged hitting his 8 year old brother in the spine. The brother was paralyzed from the neck down and just recently died in his early 20's, complications of being paralyzed. And back in the early 70's, I knew a family where the 4 year old brother got hold of his fathers gun that was loaded and laying around(can't remember where, just remember it being carelessly left out somewhere). The boy shot through a wall and killed his sister.

I also know a load of people with guns and have for years, where nothing has happened. It's part of life. There will always be foolish people and tragic accidents.

[susannah59]

A Glock isn't all that difficult to shoot, but then I've never considered it from the viewpoint of a 2-year-old pulling the trigger. I think it would be pretty darned difficult for a child that age to hold it correctly, point and pull the trigger, but maybe grabbing it upside-down or something. Even at that, this sounds like a "lucky" shot to have hit the woman just right.

I agree that the whole situation sounds awfully fishy. I know they are doing powder residue tests, but I hope they also look very carefully at things like angle of entry, where everyone was supposed to have been physically, and so forth.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Gun ought to have a lot of kick in store for a 2yo who doesn’t know he’s flicking a bang switch.

[LearnsFromMistakes]

I wonder if it is possible that he could have held the kid’s hand there and pulled the trigger?

He said he was trying to take it from the kid, so they will both have powder residue. Unless he is lying about the 'trying to take if from the kid'.

'Why did I put myself in this spot?'

At least he has his priorities straight...

[riverrunner]

I always wonder about these cases, They should be investigated as a homicide with the man being the peime suspect.

What a convenient excuse for killing your wife girl freind ect.

Home come they are not just wounded.

I remember when my kids were 2 they would have had a hard time holding let alone shooting any size of pistol.

Makes me wounder if the kid had some help.

[commonguymd]

There was a book or movie about how a man would play a game with his young child to pull the trigger in an unloaded gun on his mother when she was sleeping. Eventually he loaded the gun, and blamed the kid.

[al_c]

They will test for powder residue.

From the article:

The man has been questioned by police and submitted to a gun residue test to determine if the toddler really fired the weapon.

The results have not been released.

[golf lover]

We’ll see this on “48 Hours” and you can bet the husband/father did it.

[madamemayhem]

someone (a gun enthusiast) once told me that if you pick up the pistol, hold it with your off hand, and can pull the trigger with the pinky finger of that hand, then a child can pull that trigger also. Don’t know if that is true or not.

[rhoda_penmark]

“I’m no gun expert, but why would you have a loaded gun laying around when you have a two year old child?”

In most of these cases, alchohol/drug induced stupidity or just plain regular stupidity is involved.

[Celtic Conservative]

They come standard with 5lb. triggers. 8 lb. triggers can be factory installed if requested.

CC