9-Year-Old Dead Because Of Ricocheted Bullet During Target Practice
The Arizona child was killed by a ricocheted bullet during a round of handgun shooting with his family.
The boy, who was hit in the neck, was airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital early Wednesday, sheriff’s deputies said. He died of his wounds on Thursday, said Christopher Hegstrom, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy was target shooting with a group including two adults, his sister, and two other children around 5 a.m. It was not immediately clear who fired the shot that hit him.
“They’re all together, someone fires a gun, and the bullet ricochets and hits the boy. They immediately call 911, pick up the boy, and put him in the car,” said Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputy Joaquin Enriquez.
Several handguns and a shotgun were found at the scene.
m2old4bs July 4th, 2014 at 4:18 pm
And people wonder why I won’t let my child be around people who play with guns.
Alan July 4th, 2014 at 5:27 pm
you are wise to not allow that
Um Cara July 4th, 2014 at 11:32 pm
I was visiting some of my ex-wife’s family (back when she wasn’t an ex) and they started pulling out guns from the gun closet & pointing them at each other & joking around (someone had bought a new gun & was showing it off is what started this).
Five people, all playing with guns. (This was in the midwest, not Texas, by the way). When I suggested they not do that, I was told not to worry – ‘they aren’t loaded’.
I told my wife we were leaving (she was not playing with guns) and we left the house. Right.that.second.
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 12:29 am
Im betting no one wonders that. Im betting you are so full of yourself you think anyone gives a s**** what you do. No one cares what you do, just so long as you don’t bother anyone else genius.
Shades July 5th, 2014 at 8:51 am
I care what m2 has to say. You …. not so much.
fantagor July 4th, 2014 at 4:26 pm
The 2nd Amendment is seeped in the blood of children and innocent bystanders, and the NRA bathes in that bloody pool with glee.
Suzanne McFly July 4th, 2014 at 4:30 pm
I have shot at many targets and NONE of them would ricochet a bullet, what kind of target were they using? Was this at a gun range? I hope there is some type of investigation following this senseless death, their are too many questions.
Shades July 4th, 2014 at 4:41 pm
I’d say it’s fair to assume the shooter missed the target. If it was another child, they may be keeping that under wraps to protect him/her. Nonetheless, it should be noted that there is no target-shooting experience that is 100% safe and this poor boy lost his life proving that.
uzza July 4th, 2014 at 10:49 pm
Bullets can ricochet off all kinds of things. What they DON’T do is hit something, make a 180 degree turn, and go back in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION, to the other end of the shooting range, where all the people are, behind the firing line because basic gun safety.
This is just a BS excuse from a guy who’s too dumb to make up one that doesn’t violate the laws of physics.
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 12:28 am
While not saying its what happened. It is possible for a round to shatter and ricochet back 180 degrees IF they hit a solid target very close to the barrel by accident.
Pistol-Packing July 5th, 2014 at 8:27 am
see reply to Suzanne above. They absolutely have the ability to do so.
uzza July 5th, 2014 at 9:57 am
I’m nonplussed. Outdoor target shooting I’ve done has been in sand dunes, w no rocks for miles, but still I’m surprised I didn’t know this.
It doesn’t make me feel safer to find out, and I don’t really understand how it can happen so I would like to know more about it. Got any references that explain it?
Pistol-Packing July 5th, 2014 at 10:31 am
So many factors would depend on angles of impact. What kind of round you are shooting. Whether or not it is a steel core or lead core.
What we dont know in this particular story is, where was the child in relationship to the target. If he was standing off to the side, then it is extremely plausible. Rounds coming back at you at 180 degrees, I admit is a rare occurrence. But I will see what I can dig up for you as well. One thing you will notice in an indoor firing range, is the back stop will always be sloped, versus being completely vertical.
Pistol-Packing July 5th, 2014 at 10:46 am
Found an interesting thread on shooting steel targets. I am not saying that this is exactly what happened, but could be a possible explanation. This is a quote from one of the comments.
“I am an expert on ricochets and steel targets and I built all the steel targets at JCSA Action Pistol Club. Bullets will ricochet of steel targets. You can’t change that but If you turn the targets at a slight angel, say 20 degrees to the side, the bullets will ricochet off at an angel and not straight back at you. Steel targets angled down is not a good idea. The bullets will ricochet off the steel then off the ground at the perfect angel to hit you in the face. Bullets will also ricochet off water, trees, wood floors, cement, asphalt, and many other things, so be careful.”
here is the thread if you want to read some more. http://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/ricochets-from-steel-targets.81046/
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 12:26 am
Bullets can shatter and fragment back 180 degrees from where they came. Not saying that’s what happened here, but many people have gone into ‘scope defilade’ and shot things that were not in their scope field of view but in the round path that shatters the round sending it back at the shooter.
Pistol-Packing July 5th, 2014 at 8:25 am
bullets can absolutely ricochet back at the shooter. This story sounds like they were out in the desert shooting, and maybe hit a rock.
http://youtu.be/QokV7HzJhG4
Suzanne McFly July 5th, 2014 at 1:05 pm
I shot targets when I was in the military and we were in a secure environment that had targets come down by using electronic devices, there were barriers between us and the targets in case of ricochet. I guess I assumed that if anyone with any sense was going to take their child for target practice, it would be in a similar setting, but I guess I was wrong. I would never take anyone, let alone a child, to an range were security is not the top priority.
Pistol-Packing July 5th, 2014 at 1:11 pm
Read further in this thread. I has posted something with Uzzi about shooting steal targets
Teddy Simon July 4th, 2014 at 4:45 pm
I’m not against people owning guns , but some people should not own them before being properly trained .
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 1:01 am
Gun safety and respect for their lethality used to be provided by the Sheriffs office in schools at an early age. Than they stopped because it was deemed inappropriate….
Teddy Simon July 5th, 2014 at 7:24 am
Maybe in some areas but not everywhere . I had a gun at about 8 or 9 , a 410 , but it was for hunting and my dad made sure we knew about how to use it safely before we ever got to shoot it much less took it out without him being there but he was in the service in ww2 and knew training was the key to safety
arc99 July 4th, 2014 at 5:09 pm
The bottom line in this sad incident, just as in many other similar accidents is the same.
More guns do not make us safer. More guns make it more likely that an innocent person will be injured or killed due to ignorance or negligence. It is not “anti gun” to point this out, any more so than it is anti-car to point out that the more vehicles there are on the road, the greater the chances of being harmed by some other driver’s ignorance or negligence.
If the 2nd amendment zealots would drop the demonstrably false talking point about the proliferation of firearms making us safer, perhaps their overall arguments would be more credible.
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 12:23 am
more plastic bags and small toys are more likely to kill a child than guns. Suffocation kills many times more children than guns do each year in the US. Where is the outrage over plastic bags and small toys?
Where is your outrage over car crashes?
Basically you are others here are arrogant hypocrites crying about the children but what you really want is to supplant your judgement for the founders. If you don’t like the freedoms in the US, there are plenty of other countries you can go to. There are NOT any countries people who truly believe in the Bill of Rights can go. So its on you to leave.
William July 5th, 2014 at 12:42 am
If your first reaction to the news of a dead child is tales of plastic bags, toys, cars and that tired old “free-dumb” droll, than there is something seriously wrong with your soul.
You can maybe influence the rubes with your “founding fathers” crap, but that only works on the Glenn Beck crowd. When and if you are ever willing to discuss this child’s right to live, you may develop some credibility. Until such time you are just a small person getting your testosterone from a holster at the expense of our children.
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 12:49 am
If your first reaction to the death of a child is to figure out how you can use it for your own political advantage to suppress others rights and opinions with ad hominem attacks, than there is something seriously wrong with your soul.
Again, hundreds die every day of various causes that have nothing to do with guns. Your selective outrage is indicative of yet another troll who couldn’t give a s*** less about the actual child or his loss of life, all you care about is how you can use it to further your political / ideological goals.
You are a sick little man who doesn’t even realize how sick you are.
William July 5th, 2014 at 1:06 am
Yeah I’m not ok with kids dying, and I refuse to use the 2nd amendment as an excuse. That’s right cupcake. 36 years in uniform, 16 of those carrying a sidearm every day, so you can spare me your accusations of political agendas.
My outrage isn’t selective, it’s collective. When and IF you ever respond to a shooting involving a juvenile, you can come preach your silly moral indignation at folks like me who are fed up with their country leading the world in juvenile firearm deaths.
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 1:12 am
Awww how special, another internet warrior with another made up resumee. How special for you.
That’s right cupcake, your ad hominem / belittling attacks are a joke as much as your ‘arguments’. You have a political agenda, and hiding behind your keyboard to pretend you have some knowledge or experience that’s irrelevant even if it were true is a joke.
Let me spare YOU the time. Your little juvenile responses show just how much you ‘care’ about the ‘children’, the war cry of the left. Your don’t give a s*** about them and anyone with an unbiased view would see that. You can keep attacking the 2nd amendment all you want little one, but it doesn’t change the fact you can point to cars, plastic toys/bags, pools / bodies of water, and many other things that kill children too. Your selective outrage is a joke just like your feigned concern for this boy or any one else. I note your hidden racism failed to even point out the death toll in Chicago in the last two days. What, they weren’t white enough for you to care? Or the fact that Chicagos backwards view of rights and law enforcement disprove your point so you just ignore it like the rest of your vain racist friends?
Keep spouting little one, maybe one day you’ll huff and puff loud enough you will prove your idol hitlers statements about yelling something loud enough and long enough.
William July 5th, 2014 at 1:19 am
Chicago? Hiltler? plastic bags? water? racism? You really don’t have a plausible argument do you? Get back to me when you have one. Diverting the subject of a dead kid to Hitler (sorry you get your debating skills from Glenn Beck).
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 1:22 am
awww, whats the matter ‘cupcake’ did your small mind run out of ad hominems? That’s sad.
YOu haven’t presented a single point to refute. So when you have one, I will respond. Thus far, you have only made childish ad hominems.
Shades July 5th, 2014 at 8:48 am
“… You haven’t presented a single point to refute that I can understand. Give me time to read my troll handbook…” There, fixed it for you.
KABoink_after_wingnut_hacker July 4th, 2014 at 5:23 pm
Another child dead because of freedumb.
America has about 90 gun deaths per day.
This is just business as usual for gun manufacturers and their well paid GOP enablers.
djmc993150 July 5th, 2014 at 1:16 am
must be by the 90 billion guns in America. Oh that’s right there aren’t 90 billion any more than there were 90 gun deaths per day. Even your boy Obama only cites 30…
Do you even know how to do a google search?
KABoink_after_wingnut_hacker July 5th, 2014 at 5:55 am
Here you go sunshine.
Presumably you can do the math to convert annual statistics into daily statistics.
http://smartgunlaws.org/category/gun-studies-statistics/gun-violence-statistics/
crc3 July 4th, 2014 at 6:20 pm
I’m sure the NRA is excited about all of the press they are getting…
M D Reese July 4th, 2014 at 6:28 pm
I don’t know if it’s the case here, but local gunnuts like to go to an old rock quarry and shoot their guns off there. It’s private property and illegal as hell and not at all safe and sane–but they do it anyway.
OrdinaryBloke July 4th, 2014 at 6:41 pm
It is like the NRA is doing some sort of social experiment to see how many of our children they can murder before American’s hit their tolerance limit. If terrorists killed this many of our kids, we’d be drone bombing them to death right now, but the NRA headquarter just sits there unscathed.
TerryW July 14th, 2014 at 8:07 pm
It’s all fun and games until someone gets shot in the neck. The desert is full of rocks, bullets can and do ricochet. So what do we do? Stick some cans and bottles on top of those rocks and shoot at them. This family is now devastated and a young child lost his life. Parents are supposed to be smart enough to protect their children, so why take them out shooting in the desert? Did any of them take gun safety classes? Sure it was an accident, but it was a preventable accident. There are much safer places to go play with your guns – like indoor shooting ranges. A lot of people would be better off if they stuck with paintball guns. I wonder if this family will continue to go on family shooting outings in the desert? Probably not. I wonder if any of them will want to shoot a gun again. I have a couple of guns, I know how to use them, they are for self-protection in my home, I don’t play with them, they are just there if I ever need them. That’s really how it should be.