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Police: Teen charged with shooting young brother to death in Mattapan
By adamg on Fri, 02/07/2014 - 12:15pm
Updated 7:15 p.m.
A 14-year-old police say shot his 9-year-old brother to death this morning will be arraigned on charges of involuntary manslaughter and illegal weapons possession next week, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
Police responded around 11:40 a.m. to 617 Morton St., where they found the 9-year-old seriously wounded. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Police say they found the older brother wandering nearby. According to the DA's office:
Based on evidence at the scene and statements by individuals including the juvenile, investigators believe the boy was handling the firearm recklessly when it discharged, striking his younger brother. The evidence at this stage does not suggest that any other person in the juvenile’s home knew he possessed the firearm.
In a statement, DA Dan Conley said:
Part of our investigation in the days to come will be determining how this weapon got into the hands of a 14-year-old. In the meantime, I want to make something crystal clear: if you know about an illegal firearm in this city, help us prevent another tragedy like this one. Boston Police are doing a tremendous job of taking guns off the street, but they aren’t mind readers. They need tips and information about these weapons before they’re used.
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Comments
I hope to hear more about this.
A family being fractured like this is a horrible tragedy. To me it's a sad situation anytime a parent has to bury a child, regardless of their age.
Mr. DeLeo's report on reducing gun violence calls for better safety training. It is my hope that better safety requirements will reduce this type of event:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/205379490/Strategies-for-Reducing-Gun-Violence...
Deja vu?
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/05/crime_consumed_a_fa...
Same deal here, I'm guessing - parent(s) who should have been in jail, kids who should have been taken away when they were infants.
Even if the parents were
Republican voting NRA members?
For violating the state
For violating the state storage laws and NRA safety rules yep.
Response from a Republican voting NRA member..
Well see, here's the thing bulgingbuick, Republican voting NRA members know how to handle, store and use guns properly. Unlike the thugs and criminals who roam Boston's streets, the judges who just slap their wrists and the whiney progressives who make excuses for them...
Listen Barney
I get keeping that bullet in your pocket. Safety first.
Yeah. Right.
None of us have ever read about any kids accidentally shooting each other in upstanding NRA-loving Republican homes. Or children of NRA members going on--oh, say, a maniacal rampage killing 27 children and teachers. Or shooting some young dad in a movie theater because he was texting. No, only crazy blacks and libruls do crazy stuff like that...right?
Honestly. Read the paper, OK? And then maybe explain to me what exactly your beloved NRA is actually doing--one single thing-- to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, children, or maniacs. Please--I can't wait to hear.
Sorry to break it to you, but
Sorry to break it to you, but all the mass shootings lately have been by registered Democrats who were not NRA members.
You have no idea what you are talking about or what the NRA actually spends most of its time & money doing (hint: SAFETY TRAINING).
The vast majority of crime committed with firearms in the US is by people ignoring the currents laws who have never had any formal safety training or licensure.
Get it through your head that some people are just plain crazy or evil and that all the laws in the world are not going to do a damn thing to stop them from doing crazy of evil things.
Answer your own question Sally
Sally, you don't have to wait at all but I shouldn't have to do your homework for you. Go on the net, bring up your favorite search engine, type in NRA's Eddie Eagle program, NRA's gun safety programs, Bill's and laws that NRA has pushed through, in cooperation with law enforcement all around the country, to get tough on criminals who use guns illegally and 'Shazam!!! you will have about 600 answers to your own question. Now get busy, you've got a lot of work to do. I know you don't want to hear this, you sound like you'd much prefer to go through life in ignorant bliss like most libs but it's always good to know what your talking about before you speak and sound foolish. The steps I've just laid out for you will hopefully begin that process.
Eddie Eagle.
I think that answers that. As a response, it's equal parts hilarious and pathetic. Have a pleasant weekend.
Fox "facts"
are no argument.
Oh Sally, you confirmed my
Oh Sally, you confirmed my suspicions. When facts don't boost your silly arguments, you want nothing to do with them. Ridicule them, without even checking and move on. Gee, what a surprise!!
Facts?
Sorry--saying "Google it and you'll find plenty of fabulous NRA propaganda about how super-awesome we are at teaching gun safety to kids" does not equal "facts." Just like the NRA which goes pasty-faced-adolescent-boy silent when actually confronted with the horrors that people with guns inflict--and yes, legal guns, purchased by fearful, wannabe-Rambos like yourself, you just don't want to face facts. Blame the "libs" or whoever you want--wish it as you may, it's not generally the crazy hippie "progressives" who are shooting people in movie theaters, malls, schools, etc. It's men who feel stymied and powerless who have decided that a big old firearm is the only thing that will make them feel powerful and in control. Which is a tragedy for all of us.
Oh Sally
Oh Sally Sally Sally, with each rambling response you prove over again that youk no nothing either about which you speak or, that you are in complete denial of the facts. No one works more closely with law enforcement all over America than NRA. Crazy hippies, libs, clueless progressives, whatever you are, I think you have now looked it up and realize how wrong you are but being typical of all those who possess that same childlike ideology, just can't bring yourself to admit it. Instead, you rant and scream louder hoping that your hysterics will some how win an argument. Instead, it just brings either pity or amusement to those with whom you disagree. You are wrong, you now know you are wrong and those who hear you going off like you have been know it too. This doesn't make you a bad person. Just badly misinformed or too stubborn to admit when are 'out gunned' in the arena of ideas.
Stop drinking the NRA Kool-Aid
I likely would be considered "liberal" but I am also a gun owner. I'm also a reasonably intelligent person so I know better than to listen to the NRA's constant propaganda which frequently contains distorted truths and sometimes outright lies. Children of NRA parents are also involved in negligent discharges. In fact, NRA members are sometimes guilty of it, so arguing that one's political leanings or NRA membership keeps people from doing stupid things with guns is ill-informed, at best. How many gun instructors are NRA members? I'm betting darn near all of them. I can think of at least three instances in which a gun instructor did something incredibly stupid and negligent with a gun, including one guy who shot his gun at a hayride event because he thought it would be a good scare for his daughter. The one scared was likely the young lady he shot, but luckily did not kill. (Incredibly, it was the man's second incident of negligent discharge, mind you.) So being trained and/or being a member of the NRA is NO guarantee at all. It just makes it more inexcusable.
Open your eyes you racist
Open your eyes you racist bastard, most of these killings are by lonely white kids who's parents got nothing better to do but show them about guns.
to where?
Taken away to where, though? As it is, the DSS system is overwhelmed, start taking away every kid who "should" be taken away, and the problem gets even worse. If we're trying to maximize the kids' chances of living healthy, productive lives, letting them live with disfunctional families may actually be better of two bad options.
Sure, same deal.
It's Mattapan, right, and they're black so surely it must be the same deal--sociopathic family, criminals, brought it upon themselves. Whereas these kids...oh, totally different deal, right?
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/24054276/young-boy-acidentally-shot-by-old...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boy-aged-five-accidentally-shot-267...
http://www.wmctv.com/story/20423746/police-say-10-year-old-boy-accidenta...
And on and on. If this had happened in West Roxbury, I wonder if we'd have the same kind of comments here?
You know how many cops live in westie
Who have both kids and firearms. This is solely the parent/s fault. Securing a firearm is no different that securing medication, chemicals and other various hazards in ones house.
This was avoidable and tragic.
Moving forward I sincerely hope this young man get the counciling which is going to most definitely require. As an older brother I don't know how I would cope.
You should be in jail not the
You should be in jail not the parent who did her best to teach her kid about life and struggled to keep him out of the street. Thats just too bad your parents spoiled you their whole lives and treated you like a little princess. Not every kid in boston has the opportunity you had.
safe storage
If the owner was the 15 yo, the gun was likely was acquired illegally.
If the owner was a parent, then by law, the gun needed to be "stored or kept" in compliance with the safe storage requirements of §131L: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter140/Sect...
It's tragic.
He's died
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/02/07/boy-accidental...
RIP
Per Twitter, Mayor Walsh just revealed the boy has succumbed to his injury. Completely shocked, and I don't even know what to say. 14yo accidentally shoots his 11yo brother and now he has died. Incredibly sad, disturbing, and shocking.
So sad, and ignoramus comments make it worse...
what is even more disheartening are the ignorant comments left by Herald readers
RIP little boy, your life is gone way too soon
"what is even more
"what is even more disheartening are the ignorant comments left by Herald readers" - why do you read them? I'm really curious to know...
Herald reader is
an oxymoron.
school?
why were they not there?
Even if this is just one of those emotional
distancing mechanisms that people often employ when faced with a tragedy ("was she wearing a seatbelt?" "Had he been drinking?") it's still a really sick first response to the news that a child has been killed and a family destroyed forever. Please...take a breath before you start judging.
It is a good question, and it
It is a good question, and it doesn't detract from the tragedy. Why were both school-aged boys home from school during a school day? There might be a perfectly legitimate reason for this, or it could be that both boys were skipping school and the parents were not aware or involved enough.
Detract?
Oh, no--we wouldn't want to "detract" from the tragedy. How about we call it a tragedy and leave it at that instead of heaping assumptions on the family? If this had happened on a Saturday then that would be a totally different story?
No one is making any
No one is making any assumptions. There is a question: why weren't the boys in school? I think we might be identifying a second tragedy, one of parental responsibility.
because they were busy at
because they were busy at home playing with loaded guns, duh.
I totally agree. I am a
I totally agree. I am a parent of a child who attends BPS and I have gone through absolute hell! Every little thing he did he was sent home for, suspended for things that occurred when he was not even there, but his friends did. I had to fight like hell for my son. He ditched, I was scared for him. However, after many meetings and phone calls, CHINS I finally got my son in the school he should have been in for years. He goes everyday, less worries for myself. It took 3 years. It is possible this mother may have been dealing with similar issues and is a great mother but nowadays you have to stay on these 14 year old boys, so much lower pressure. My point is bpsreally needs to step it up! So do us parents, fight that fight and win i did!
Meant "peer pressure"
Meant "peer pressure"
Tragic, but as this country
Tragic, but as this country becomes more and more awash in guns, while fewer and fewer people are properly trained to respect the power of guns (and in my opinion, the greatest respect would be not to allow one in a household with children if you're not going to properly stow it), we keep hearing of these episodes. I don't believe in stripping people of their 2nd amendment rights, but surely the most ardent supporter of the right to bear arms would concede that some people, even if they are law-abiding, don't have the common-sense, mental soundness or capacity or simple situational awareness needed to respect an object that is designed to kill as simply and easily as possible. But then the argument over who decides competency soon follows, followed by who decides who goes into a federal background check database, followed by black helicopters and re-education camps. As a result of mass paranoia and media-fueled fear-mongering to instill distrust of everyone from the highest levels of government to the black kid in the hoodie cutting through your gated community, nothing gets done, and more kids die.
huh?
Aren't you supposed to properly store a gun regardless of whether there are children in the house?
Of course, but having
Of course, but having children in the house rather makes it a no-brainer. Unless you have no brains.
The stupid are allowed to breed as well
You can fix stupid as they say. It's a damn shame that their children have to suffer for their mistakes, but you can only do so much to protect people from themselves.
It was the kids gun
It was the kids gun
Gun control
Here's a chance to finally pass laws that just might curb gang violence (i.e. long sentence with no parole to anyone who gives illegal gun to a minor,) but we're hearing the usual evil NRA/evil republicans bullshit instead. Put pressure on the kid, get him to testify and the whole gang could get locked up assuming the right laws are in the book, but what are the chances of that happening?
At 14 years old
I had a gun in my house as my father was required to own one. However, i also had a job and new not to point a loaded or unloaded firearm at someone. This was an avoidable situation brought on by shitty parenting. Tragic!
Hey what's tonights lottery number?
You obviously know and see all.
what we know
We don't know that the parent/s owned the gun. And we don't know why the kids thought he needed it if it was his. There's so much we don't know it's irresponsible to make character judgments about the parenting. It could be that everything was done correctly wrt the training the kids about the firearm and securing it -- and that curiosity or a mistake is what triggered the shooting.
Guns are lethal weapons. I don't have them in my house. Some people do.
Let's do all we can to keep folks, especially kids, from dying from them including providing them with the information so they make a good choice about bringing one into their home and if they do, how to keep people safe from it.
I hate to be judgmental, but
I hate to be judgmental, but given that there was a shooting outside this house on several occasions before, and given that the kids were not in school at all, the scenario you paint seems to be on a very low order of possibility. I ask forgiveness if I am wrong.
Statement from Linda Dorcena Forry
Better yet
Anyone who believes there is a thug with an illegal firearm in their neighborhood should call Boston Police and arrange for his safe disposal.
There was another idea for turning in guns.
It may be possible to turn unwanted guns into clergy members. Whether or not this has been approved I don't know.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/01/29/boston-police-commissioner-l...
Tragic, tragic, tragic.
Tragic, tragic, tragic.
People are idiots with their guns.
illeal firearm?
There is going to be more call for stricter gun laws, but i guarantee the gun used was an illegal firearm and not owned by a licensed person.
Find out were the parents legal to own it.
I also want to know what good it does to have all these firearms laws on the books, it doesn't stop a bad guy from getting one illegally, it just stops good citizens from protecting themselves.
One other question... Why was a 14 year old and a 9 year old home from school anyway!!
If you are
Sick of these endless stories of gun deaths, please join Moms Demand Action to End Gun Violence to pressure lawmakers for stronger gun laws. You don't have to be a Mom or a parent. http://momsdemandaction.org/.
I just don't think a gun law
I just don't think a gun law would have prevented this one. The law already states that a legal fire arm should be locked up. So if the gun is legal and wasn't locked up, the onus is on the gun owner. If the 14 y/o had the gun illegally then a law would do nothing. The 14 y/o left the house after shooting his brother with the gun and was found a few blocks away, which would lead one to believe it may not have belonged to an adult in the house.
Regardless of how this all happened, there is a dead 9 year old and a 14 year old who will have to live with this reality. Such a tragedy, thoughts and prayers with the family.
Agreed
At the very least, MA safe storage laws were broken. Assuming none of the resident adults legally owned the gun, you are looking at several additional felonies. MA gun laws are some of the most restrictive in the country, but they're not magic. If someone is going to ignore the law, they're going to ignore the law.
The death of any child is a tragedy. There was another one reported today that is just as sad:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/02/07/gardner-boy-di...
Doing nothing
Is no longer an option. 32,000 gun deaths in US every year. Lax gun laws in other states and lack of background checks lead to private sales that are undocumented. We need fewer guns in circulation. And limiting access is a beginning.
Let's talk about that number
According to the CDC, 59.8% of firearms related deaths were suicides in 2009. Some are tragic. Some end suffering. Either way, it's a personal choice.
Thus, we are talking about 12,800 gun related deaths that are non-suicide within a population of over 300 million people.
Then take into account that the vast majority of gun related homicides take place in very small portion of urban areas and are generally committed by people already known to police.
Take a look at here: http://www.universalhub.com/crime/murder/2013
We have a gun violence problem within a very small subset of the population, many of whom are career criminals. MA already has laws on the books that address any so called loopholes that would allow the law abiding to transfer guns to prohibited persons. New laws aren't going to fix the problem of urban gun violence.
So a more strict gun law in
So a more strict gun law in another state may have prevented today's tragedy? It's plausible.
Yes. We need
National gun laws and background checks.
OK
For arguments sake, let's assume we have a federal law mandating all firearms transfers require a background check.
In addition, let's assume the urban gun violence problem remains unchanged. This is a sound assumption since there are approx. 300 million guns in circulation in the US and the vast majority of people committing gun crimes are breaking current laws as it is.
Are you going to come to terms with the fact that this is a societal problem within in tiny subset of the population?
Or
Are you going to continue to push for further restrictions on citizens that have nothing to do with urban gun crime?
If the past is any indication, the answer is the second. That is why gun owners and civil libertarians are going to oppose additional laws. The law abiding citizen is tired of being harassed over the behavior of criminals that represent a tiny amount of the population and a minuscule amount of people that legally own guns. Vermont and NH have relaxed gun laws in comparison to MA and have a lower crime rate (for whatever reason). You are going to have a hard time convincing the residents of those states that they should change their laws because guys in Roxbury are shooting each other.
Reducing murder is a laudable goal, but I have yet to see people pushing for additional gun laws accept that there is much bigger issue in these communities than access to guns. No one gets a gun that doesn't want one, much less use it.
"32,000 gun deaths"
"32,000 gun deaths"
More than half of which are suicides. And the number of death by firearms has been falling each year despite an increase in ownership.
Hate to break it to you, but if someone wants to off themselves they are going to find a way.
&
No LEGAL private sales are undocumented. The ATF requires forms from both the buyer and seller. Everyone's license is also their background check. No license no sale. You have to pass a background check to get a firearms license.
Do you know how many people have been prosecuted for interstate arms trafficking by our AG under the current laws? ZERO! If straw purchasing from out of state is a major problem then why haven't there been prosecutions?
Passing more laws does nothing when criminals ignore the current ones and will ignore any future ones.
Interstate Trafficking
Why no prosecution for interstate gun trafficking? Your pals, the NRA, of course, who continue to tie cops' hands by making it harder to trace crime guns to their source. Thanks to the NRA, state and local authorities are restricted from using gun trace info to investigate corrupt gun dealers and traffickers.
The Tiahrt Amendments require the Justice Department to destroy the record of a buyer whose NICS background check was approved within 24 hours. This makes it harder to catch law-breaking gun dealers who falsify their records, and it makes it more difficult to identify and track straw purchasers who buy guns on behalf of criminals who wouldn't be able to pass a background check.
While dealers must notify ATF if they discover that guns from their inventories have been lost or stolen, the Tiahrt Amendments prevent ATF from requiring gun dealers to conduct annual physical inventory checks to detect losses and thefts. ATF reported that in 2007 it found 30,000 guns missing from dealer inventories based on its inspection of just 9.3% of gun dealers.
Background check
You realize a one-time background check is not a magic spell that prevents people from committing crimes in the future right? That people can develop mental illness over time? That restraining orders are not checked by a claivoyant when you get your license?
What are you afraid of with more frequent checks?
What are you proposing?
Because you don't know what you're talking about.
In MA, you have to renew your firearms license every six years which requires another full background check.
Every time time a dealer transfers a firearm in MA, there is an additional Federal check.
Any transfer in MA between individuals must be reported to the state within seven days.
If in fact you are under a restraining order in MA, you will not be given a license and if you become the subject of a restraining order, the police will confiscate your license and firearms. In addition, the Chief of Police in each town has the "discretion" to refuse a permit to someone they deem unfit, such as someone with a history of restraining orders.
Nothing is magic. Maybe you could go crazy and kill people with a knife, so perhaps we should have the state come root around your life every so often to make sure. You can't be too careful, right?
We already have the laws in
We already have the laws in place. In fact, MA is famous for having more than it's share of gun laws. When the laws don't get enforced you say they don't work, you demand more laws. You want to join an organization to further oppress the law abiding citizens. Go after the judges, demand they start doing their jobs!!
1. Why not in School?
1. Why not in School?
2. FOTG -Finger On the Trigger Guard
3.
1.Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.
2. Never point a weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot.
3. Keep finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to fire.
4. Keep weapon on safe until you intend to fire.
Post updated around 7:15 p.m.
With latest from the DA's office.
Its also a homicide
Its also a homicide
Went down as 10th
Went down as 10th
There's 5 different kinds of
There's 5 different kinds of homicides murder 1, murder 2, Manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, Vehicular homicide.