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More tales of senseless deaths by guns

C

classy

Lifer
Parents may be charged in death
Boy, 3, killed himself with handgun in home

By RICHARD RUBIN

By RICHARD RUBIN
KANNAPOLIS -- Cabarrus County prosecutors are considering whether to charge the parents of a 3-year-old boy who fatally shot himself in his Kannapolis home Monday afternoon.

District Attorney Mark Speas said he expects to decide sometime this week whether to charge Stephanie and Bradford Evick with improper storage of a firearm or other offenses.

"We've got to get the investigation complete and have all the facts before we make a decision," Speas said Tuesday. He declined to comment on details of the investigation.

Nicholas Lynn Evick died Monday night at Carolinas Medical Center after suffering a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

About 1p.m. Monday, Nicholas walked into his parents' bedroom. On the floor next to the bed was a locked cabinet that contained two handguns, one loaded and one unloaded, police said.

Nicholas reached inside, pulled out a loaded .38-caliber handgun and apparently fired one shot, said Lt. Steve May of the Kannapolis Police Department. Nicholas' mother and his two brothers, ages 10 and 6, were home at the time, but the boy was apparently alone in the bedroom, police said.

Investigators are looking closely at the cabinet where the gun was stored. The cabinet was not designed to hold firearms, they said. When police arrived, they found the cabinet open, even though Nicholas' parents said they had locked it and the boy did not have the key. "How he got in it, I don't know. We may never know," said Kannapolis police Detective Luke Blume.

Police determined the shooting was accidental, but prosecutors can still charge Nicholas' parents with a misdemeanor for improperly storing a gun. The law states that parents or guardians who "knew or should have known that an unsupervised minor would be able to gain access to the firearm" can be held responsible if the firearm is used. Speas said this is one of the laws that could apply to the case.

This year, an effort to apply the law to all homes, not just those where children live, was defeated in the state legislature. In 1999, 50 N.C. children died in accidents, murders and suicides involving firearms, according to the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force.

Blume said he believes further interviews with family members will help him determine what happened. The family has no history with the Cabarrus County Department of Social Services, said director Jim Cook.

The Evicks' small yellow house on Horne Street in Kannapolis was quiet Tuesday except for television news vans. Most of the family had gathered at the Concord home of Sheri Evick, Nicholas' grandmother, where they grieved and planned for Friday's funeral.

"I loved my grandson. I don't know how I'm going to get through life without him," she said, adding that her son and daughter-in-law should not be charged. "It was just an accident, a terrible accident. It was nobody's fault."

A teary Sheri Evick said Nicholas' older brother is taking the loss hard, repeatedly breaking down and crying. "The youngest one, I don't know if it really hit him much or if he really comprehends quite what happened," she said.



This is just one of thousands. Guess we'll just keep opening up the ground and putting dead bodies in it.
 
It is a horribly tragic situation, although I am sure the parents will punish themselves everyday more than any court decision could. I am not sure that filing charges on them is the right thing to do.

I do whole heartedly support private gun ownership, if there are EVER small children in a house where a gun is kept, the gun should be secured 10 ways from Sunday. Storing guns loaded is not a great idea either.

Starting to outlaw every single item that could possibly get a child hurt or maimed is not the way to solve the problem.
 
Natural selection at it's finest. A parent who would leave a loaded gun where a child could find it is on the low end of the bell curve. If we can convince more of those people to keep loaded guns around the house, we'll end up with a society of only the more intelligent people and we'll finally be able to advance.
 


<< It is a horribly tragic situation, although I am sure the parents will punish themselves everyday more than any court decision could. I am not sure that filing charges on them is the right thing to do. >>



Boy, I could not disagree more. I think many people who commit crimes, especially crimes of violence, are riddled with guilt. That said, society has an interest in seeing them punished. Similarly, the crime in this case warrants serious punishment, and frankly IMO this is at a minimum manslaughter. We are, after all, talking about a 3-year-old, who needs and deserves a safe environment, and his parents betrayed their responsibility to him.
 
Sounds like BS to me.

They dont know how he got in the cabinet? Huh????

How does a three year old hold a .38 and manage to pull the trigger. He must have had real big hands or I've got the wrong ipmression of how big and strong a three year old is.

Even so what kind of an idiot would leave a loaded gun like that where the kid could get to it. I suppose they thought it was locked up safe....
 
This is just one of thousands. Guess we'll just keep opening up the ground and putting dead bodies in it.

yup. very tragic story, but that's what happens when adults make mistakes like that. :|
 
There is one constant with senseless deaths by guns, senseless people who own guns and have no regard for the responsibility that come with owning a gun. If laws are inacted toio proctect thie dimmest of the populus than we will all be sitting in the dark on the floor in the middle of the room.
 
Somehting is fishy here. A three year old mysteriously opens a locked cabinet and somewhow aims this big heavy gun at his head and pulls the trigger. I'm skeptical.

Besides you're punshing all the sensible gun owners for a potentially uncareful owners mistake. I think too many people die each year in accidents due to speeding. I'd like to make cars illegal. Its just crazy to just keep opening up the ground and putting dead bodies in it when we can prevent it by not allowing cars.
 
Red, they should make an IQ test a requirement for breeding.

You have to pass a test to drive, and look how many people cant do that.

Yes I know, reproduction is a right. That pesky Constitution again....

 


<< Natural selection at it's finest. A parent who would leave a loaded gun where a child could find it is on the low end of the bell curve. If we can convince more of those people to keep loaded guns around the house, we'll end up with a society of only the more intelligent people and we'll finally be able to advance. >>



Well Bober, what I am about to say will surely inspire some thought. I hope. I see Ulf with his posts and you also I believe are a gun advocate. Now answer me this. I see all the time where you guys say you need guns for protection. What good is a gun if it has no bullets? You are in the middle of the night and someone enters your bedroom, do you think you would have time to get a gun and load it? So what do most people do? Just what these poor souls did. Have the gun loaded just in case. Unfortunately like in most cases involving a gun shooting, most end with an innocent person dying.
 
Classy, with a speedloader for a revolver you can load it in seconds, maybe two or three, with practice. Same for an auto with a clip. Problem is that people dont practice, so they will be lazy and leave it loaded. Well I should say that people dont carry out their responsibility that goes with having guns, much the same as their kids.

Not every time you need a gun is at a time when you just wake from a break in. My dad was watching TV when two teenagers tried kicking in his front door, they had done this to two other older couples in the neighboorhood, and by the time they got the door down, dad has his now loaded 45 in their face. They ran, and he didnt shoot. The other two couples werent as &quot;lucky&quot; they got robbed and beaten pretty badly.
The police showed up half an hour later to take a report. As far as I know they were caught, nor was there any attempt to catch them.
 
Classy, what you have posted is truly tragic, and I do believe that the parents will hold themselves responsible and punish themselves more than any court could ever think of.

But, I do keep a loaded gun in my house, and it is in a special safe that only opens when the proper compination is entered. It is a safe that has 4 finger buttons, I can open it in the dark, blindfolded etc. The issue here is not gun control, but education. I was 3 years old when I was taugh what a gun was and what it could do. I grew up in the country where guns are a necessity, and most kids know what they are and what they are for.

Once again education about guns is needed, not demonization.
 


<< Its just crazy to just keep opening up the ground and putting dead bodies in it when we can prevent it by not allowing cars. >>



Tell you what, Soybomb: When they start making cars that are built for only one purpose, TO KILL PEOPLE, I will be the first to step up and say we should not allow cars on our freeways.

Guns, when used for what their makers intended, kill living things. Is that so hard to understand? The first gun hugger that comes in here and says anything different is going to get bitch slapped into submission.

Have a nice day.
🙂
 
Guns, when used for what their makers intended, kill living things. Is that so hard to understand? The first gun hugger that comes in here and says anything different is going to get bitch slapped into submission.

Killing things is exactly what guns were made for. You know what that makes them great for? Killing people who would otherwise harm you, your family, or your freedom. You can't dodge it, you can't outrun it, &amp; you sure as hell can't argue with it.

Viper GTS
 


<< Classy, what you have posted is truly tragic, and I do believe that the parents will hold themselves responsible and punish themselves more than any court could ever think of.

But, I do keep a loaded gun in my house, and it is in a special safe that only opens when the proper compination is entered. It is a safe that has 4 finger buttons, I can open it in the dark, blindfolded etc. The issue here is not gun control, but education. I was 3 years old when I was taugh what a gun was and what it could do. I grew up in the country where guns are a necessity, and most kids know what they are and what they are for.

Once again education about guns is needed, not demonization. >>



Ulf, that makes no sense, if you keep a gun in a &quot;special place&quot; that you need a combination to open, that kinda defeats your argument of having guns to protect oneself doesn't it? Seems to me like you have guns for sport rather than protection.
 


<< You know what that makes them great for? Killing people who would otherwise harm you, your family, or your freedom. You can't dodge it, you can't outrun it, &amp; you sure as hell can't argue with it. >>



For every instance where someone &quot;protected&quot; their family, freedom, or themselves with a gun, 32 people were maimed or killed by guns. Almost half of the gun crimes committed in America are done with firearms stolen from law abiding citizens.(CDC statistics)

Seems like a real high price to pay for a little (false) piece of mind.

These statistics point out that the overwhelming majority of people who keep and carry guns really have no reason to do so. You would be 32 times more likely to reduce crime by destroying your guns, rather than keeping them in case an unlikely scenario would arise where you would actually be able to use them in a law-abiding way.
 
I agree...the only way a gun could be used for protection is if it was loaded under your pillow or something (assuming an intruder)...who's gonna have time to go over to a safe and unlock it...
 
nope, the safe is a quick access safe, it can be opened in a split second. it stays right by the bed. and i can have it opened and ready to be used before anything happens. Plus, the dogs I own will either deterr the perp, or at least slow him/her down long enough so I can assess the situation.
 
Ulf: why would you live in a 'hood where you have to worry about getting at your guns in the middle of the night?

Seems like the smart thing to do, if crime was that bad, would be to move.
 
I live in Acworth GA where crime is very low, but my subdivision is surrounded by trailerparks. So far nothing major has happened, but I am not taking any chances. I also used to put peeps in jail, so I have to pack most of the time too, just in case I run into someone I busted.
 
hick farmers use guns.

the intelligent people use alarm systems.

hypothetical situation.
robber has gun, you pull out gun!!! WHAT DO YOU DO? shoot his brains out and get charged for murder. or he shoots your brains out and your family gets charged for a funeral.
in the end, criminal dies or you die.

hypothetical situation #2.
robbers breaks in house, alarm system starts blaring all over. you're safe, your family is safe, your house is safe.
in the end, you're safe, criminal probably gets caught and gets taken care of by the PROPER authorities.


but then, if you're planning on taking a gun outside your house and having it around you while you're in the streets. you have more complicated problems than just worrying about your family!.
 
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