8 year old kills 90 year old caregiver

[SummerSnow]

U.S.
Boy, 8, played violent video game, killed 90-year-old woman — but will NOT be charged: cops
The child had just finished playing "Grand Theft Auto IV" before he fatally shot Marie Smothers, 90, inside a Louisiana mobile home, police said. But state law prevents children under 10 from being charged with a crime.

By Joe Kemp / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, August 24, 2013, 11:29 AM

Police believe an 8-year-old boy intentionally killed his 90-year-old caregiver when he shot her in the back of the head while she watched television inside the mobile home

But the child won’t be charged with a crime.

The boy fatally shot his elderly caregiver, Marie Smothers, after playing “Grand Theft Auto IV” — a video game critics often blame for promoting violence — inside the mobile home at a Slaughter, La., trailer park Thursday evening, police said. According to reports the gun belonged to the caregiver.

Smothers was sitting in a chair and watching television when the unidentified boy fired one round into the back of her head, the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office said.

[DrDan]

1. whose gun? that's who should be charged.

[An_enlightened_soul]

3. What ??

The article says the gun belonged to the caregiver -- the deceased woman. You want her to be charged? She's dead...

[DrDan]

5. (1) that little detail was added with an edit and (2) a link to the article was not provided

no reason to get snarky about it - I responded to what I read

geez louise

[Turbineguy]

2. The aptly named place of Slaughter....

It seems that somebody kept a gun handy for the child to do this.

[Orrex]

4. Is it common for a 90-year-old to babysit?

Not being snarky--for all I know it might happen all the time. I don't know any 90-year-olds, but I know a number of octogenarians, and I wouldn't saddle any of them with babysitting duties.

This is a sad situation, likely with many contributing elements. Why is the video game being singled out as the proximate factor in Smothers' death, rather than the unsecured gun? The child might just as easily have shot himself, after all.

I wonder what else is going on in this story that led to this result. Probably a number of issues that aren't as neatly sound-byted as "video game makes kid a killer."


Very sad.

[SunSeeker]

6. Another example that you are 43 times more likely to be killed by your own gun than an intruder's.

The gun belonged to the deceased. No doubt she owned it for "protection." Just like Mrs. Lanza.

There are more details about this shooting at this CNN link:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/25/us/louisiana-boy-kills-grandmother/index.html?hpt=hp_t2