3-Year-Old Shot and Killed While 'Playing Gun Game' With Mom's Boyfriend

dinsdag 17 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Nicole Fabian-Weber 1 hour ago

Three-year-old Lance Wilson was shot and killed after "playing a game" with his mother's boyfriend. The toddler was reportedly sitting on 24-year-old Zachariah Grisham's lap when a gun Grisham "forgot was loaded" went off, killing Wilson immediately.

While I'm against guns in any capacity, I get that certain people feel that guns should be legal, if used responsibly. But can we all agree that holding a gun -- whether you "think" it's loaded or not -- while you have a toddler in your lap is 110 percent the opposite of responsible?

On Monday, Grisham was charged with neglect and reckless homicide of a child, and according to the prosecutor, "[Wilson and Grisham] were playing a game. The child pointed his finger at the defendant like he was shooting a gun playing a game, and he pointed a gun out and shot the boy."

I can't, for the life of me, figure out what would possess someone to do this. Even if you thought the gun wasn't loaded. Even if you checked it earlier on in the day. Even if you were basically 100 percent positive there were no bullets in that gun. You don't point it at a child, or anyone, and shoot. I would never, in a million years, point a gun at a kid and pull the trigger, even if jest. But if for some insane reason I was that type of person, you best believe I'd check to see if it were loaded right before doing so.

Hopefully, Grisham spends the rest of his life in jail for allegedly killing this kid whose entire life was ahead of him. That won't bring Lance back. But it'll at least be nice to know that there's one more irresponsible gun owner off the street. Thoughts and prayers to Lance's family.

What do you think of this?

Image via Michigan City Police

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3-Year-Old Girl Weighing Just 11 Pounds Dies of Starvation While in Parents' Care

dinsdag 10 september 2013

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A 3-year-old girl with special needs is dead and the city of Philadelphia is facing one horrific child abuse investigation. Doctors say when Nathalyz Rivera was rushed to the hospital, she was just 11 pounds and covered in bites. She didn't make it. She'd been starved ... to death.

Now all four of Nathalyz' siblings, including her 3-year-old twin, have been taken from their parents, and those parents -- 30-year-old Carlos Rivera and Carmen Rameriz, 27, have been taken into police custody. There are no charges yet, but considering doctors say the little girl's starvation was akin to the treatment of prisoners in concentration camps, it's safe to say there will be a raft coming down the pike.

The confusing thing: who to charge. And with what.

According to police, Carlos Rivera found little Nathalyz unresponsive and he called Carmen, who showed up with her boyfriend and rushed the 3-year-old, who was born blind and with Down syndrome, to the hospital. She was pronounced dead there.

At the risk of sounding reasonable, what did they expect would happen?

A child abuse specialist familiar with the case told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the girl’s condition “doesn’t happen to a child in a couple of weeks. Generally, it is a process that takes months and months, or even years of neglect.”

Add to that the fact that this poor little girl's body was reportedly covered in insect and rodent bites (as were the bodies of her siblings, who were otherwise relatively OK), and I ask again: what did these parents EXPECT?

For their daughter to be right as rain? For a miracle?

This poor innocent child had been starved. For months or even a year. She was put through unspeakable torture.

A child.

A child with special needs no less.

A 3-year-old who needed her Mommy and Daddy.

She should have been taken to a doctor before all this, not at the end. She should have been protected all along; not suddenly at the end, when it looked like she might be dead.

Cops say Carmen "came and went" from Carlos' home, from the home where Nathalyz lived, and she'd seen the little girl recently, so it looks likely that both parents will be facing some sort of charges -- regardless of Mom's last ditch attempt to seek some sort of medical treatment for the little girl.

What do you make of their decisions at the end? Do you have any sympathy for these parents?

Image via Philadelphia Police Department

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3-Year-Old Boy's Accidental Death Is Not Enough to Stop Dad From Supporting Guns

maandag 19 augustus 2013

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by Maressa Brown 1 hour ago

Heartbreaking tragedy struck in Dundee, Michigan yesterday afternoon when 3-year-old named Damon Holbrook fatally shot himself in the head. The little boy found a loaded 40-caliber Smith and Wesson firearm on the floor of a bedroom closet, police say. It reportedly belonged to Joshua Michael Greenhill, a friend of Damon's father, Brian Holbrook, who was living with the family.

Greenhill, who has a permit to carry the gun involved in the incident and has no criminal record, has since been arrested on charges of manslaughter and gross negligence. Meanwhile, in the midst of his devastation, Damon's father took to Facebook to set the record straight on his position on guns  ...

Holbrook wrote (all sp):

Yesterday I lost my 3yrd son to a gun accident. We r all hoping to wake up from this nightmare. ... I have nothing wrong with guns it's with this country was built on. I will still support the Second Amendment. All I ask is that everyone please, please safety first lock it up and put it out of reach of anyone that has no business being around a gun especially kids.

Agh. I have to admit, I don't completely, personally agree with Damon's dad on this ... I feel like recent events, perhaps even including this traumatic incident, do make a case for stricter gun control laws. However, I have to respect Holbrook for standing up for what he believes -- which is that this horrific accident and similar ones that we've heard of far too often shouldn't necessarily mean withdrawing support for the right to bear arms. This isn't a black and white issue.

That said, what he's asking of fellow gun supporters and owners is so important. Acting responsibly and safely must come first. As for how far we as a country and a community and even individual citizens want to take that, the jury's still out, but I'm sure we can all agree that it is imperative to preventing even more heart-wrenching, untimely deaths like little Damon's.

What are your thoughts on Holbrook's Facebook post?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

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Dad Says He Killed His 3-Year-Old Son But Doesn't 'Know Why'

donderdag 25 juli 2013

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by Kiri Blakeley 15 hours ago

A father is in jail after being arrested for killing his 3-year-old son. The man, Jeremy Cramer, took the boy from his estranged wife for a visit. She let him go even though there were signs that all was not right with Jeremy. Likely she never fathomed what Jeremy was capable of. In fact, in a jail house confession to his father that was recorded, it seems that Jeremy himself cannot fathom it. "I killed my own son and I don't know why," are the chilling words Jeremy reportedly said to his father while they spoke on the phone from jail. And more chilling words may have never been spoken. Because he likely does not know why.

Jeremy Cramer told his father that after he took his son, Brody, for a ride, he ran out of gas on a remote road in Montana. He took the boy, put him on his shoulders, and began walking. In a sometimes incoherent confession, he told his father that his son became "like some other kid when he was on my neck."

He also hinted that he'd taken too much of his generic Adderall medication, saying:

The thing was, it wasn't like I had a few beers or it was like something was up inside. Why did I take all my pills? Did I take all my pills?

Jeremy's brother told police that he was a former methamphetamine addict and someone who seemingly was addicted to Adderall.

After his wife couldn't reach him, she called police. He was eventually found with blood on his clothing, which he refused to explain. Brody was found stabbed repeatedly and beaten in a field not far from where his father's truck was located.

Jeremy also told his father during the conversation:

My son is dead, 100 percent, my son is dead, yes I did it, something did it of me but I didn't do it.

He probably feels like he didn't do it. If he's genuinely mentally ill, it must feel like he just woke up out of a nightmare where someone like him but not him killed his son. People are capable of extreme behavior when they are in the middle of a psychotic episode.

But it's hard to feel sorry for him because his son, a little person who trusted and loved him, was killed by him. His very last vision was of his father stabbing him. And he did not know why either.

Yet if he is truly psychotic (and that is IF), I feel compassion for him. Compassion doesn't mean he shouldn't be locked away for the rest of his life, however. There is also the possibility that he killed his son for revenge against his wife, with whom he was fighting over custody of Brody at the time. He could be faking psychosis.

Either way, little Brody was taken from this world too soon and in the worst way imaginable. Horrific and tragic.

What do you think happened?

Image via Anaconda, Montana Police Dept.

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