Kevin Barrett 
A toddler accidentally ended up shooting her pregnant mother while they were in the parking lot of a thrift store in northwestern Indiana. The little girl is three years old, and she was in a parked car with her mom.
She found a loaded gun in the backseat of the vehicle.
The mother, who is six months pregnant, survived the shooting.
The shooting occurred in Merrillville on the 17th of April. The little girl, a one-year-old boy, and the little girl’s mom were in the parking lot waiting for the mom’s boyfriend. He was inside a store.
Only in the USA A three-year-old girl accidentally shot and wounded her pregnant mother in a car parked outside a thrift store The shooting happened Tuesday afternoon in Merrillville, northwestern Indiana, The woman is listed as being in a critical but stable condition pic.twitter.com/E1Pit4zLG2
— Brandi Saari (@brandilmelb) April 18, 2018
The man in the store was 21-year-old Menzo Brazier, and he is the little girl’s father. Apparently, he was the one who left a loaded gun in the car.
According to a local news station, the bullet ended up going through the seat of the car; it struck the woman in her right shoulder.
Hadassah Zirkle, who is an employee of the retailer Plato’s Closet, said that there was audible screaming. Employees ran out with a bunch of other people, and someone said that a person was hurt and bleeding.
Rebecca Todd, another employee of the store, told the media that she took the children into the store in order to comfort them. The first thought, she said, was to get the children away from the situation. The kids were brought inside, and employees tried to comfort the children as much as possible.
Zirkle said that Brazier came outside screaming; he was asking what happened, with a look of disbelief on his face.
According to a detective named James Bogner, the little girl had no idea what she did and was also very scared.
The woman who was accidentally shot ended up at a local hospital for treatment; she ended up being transferred to Loyola University Medical Center. Her condition was “critical but stable”.
At the moment, police have not released additional information about the victim. Her name and her age are unknown.
However, Brazier is being held due to suspicion of child endangerment. The children were placed in protective custody.
Sadly, this incident is not the first of its kind. Back in April of 2016, a woman actually died when her two-year-old son shot her from the back seat of a vehicle. She was driving in Milwaukee. That fatal incident occurred about two months after a similar incident in Florida.
According to the sheriff’s office of Milwaukee County, 26-year-old Patrice Price died at the scene. Her son had picked up a .40-caliber gun, which had been under the driver’s seat, but slid out.
Loved ones gather to remember 26-year-old Patrice Price who was accidentally shot and killed by her child. @fox6now pic.twitter.com/7RuGMSfbj1
— Ashley Sears (@AshleySears6) April 27, 2016
Patrice’s one-year-old son and mother were also in the vehicle at the time of the fatal shooting.
CPR was performed by police deputies until emergency services arrived, but there was nothing that could be done to save Patrice.
About a month earlier, 31-year-old Jamie Gilt was shot in the back by her son, who was four years old at the time. The weapon was a handgun, and it also slid from underneath the seat into the back of the car.
Cousin confirmed to me this is Jamie Gilt who was accidentally shot by her 4 yr old son today @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/LRaADKvxti
— Catherine Varnum (@SkaterVarnum) March 8, 2016
Happily, Gilt survived the shooting.
Gun violence is a problem in the United States, and accidental shootings are surprisingly common. According to the most recent statistics available, over 500 people died in one year due to an accidental or negligent discharge of a firearm.
Guns are also used for suicide, of course. In 2010, there were almost 20,000 firearm-related suicides.
Gun control and the ownership of firearms is one of the most highly debated issues in the United States. Those who argue against gun control typically refer to the United States Constitution’s second Amendment, which protects the right to “bear arms”. The second amendment was part of the Bill of Rights, which dates all the way back to 1791. The language of the amendment and what it means precisely is frequently debated.
In the United States, gun violence is most common in urban areas and tends to be associated with gang violence. Compared to other high-income nations, the United States’ gun-related murder rate is extremely high.
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