Authorities in northern Arizona say a 4-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his father at a Prescott Valley home.
Prescott Valley police say the shooting occurred just after noon Friday.
The 35-year-old man, identified as Justin Stanfield Thomas, and his young son were visiting from Phoenix and were at a friend’s house.
Police say the boy somehow found a gun in the home’s living room and accidentally fired it and a bullet hit his father, who was rushed to a hospital where he died.
The friend was reportedly Thomas’ former roommate and it may have been a surprise visit to the home, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported.
The boy was taken to a police substation to undergo interviews, and did not appear to realize what he did, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported. The boy is now with his mother.
“At this point there is no indication of any foul play,” Prescott Valley Police spokesperson Brandon Bonney told MyFoxPhoenix.com.
Thomas was an Iraq War veteran with the Army Special Forces and leaves behind two children, the news station reported.
A father is dead, a vet is dead. Children now will grow up without a father. The shooter will probably be scarred for life. Stories like this are heart-breaking. How do we as a society ensure that things like this do not happen? All the coulda woulda shoulda in the world won’t bring Justin Thomas back. Who leaves a gun out where visitors have access? Who doesn’t notice a 4 year old playing with a gun? Yes, it’s an accident. How many more lives are accidents going to claim this year.
I don’t want to take people’s guns away. I want people who howl and scream about their rights to learn that with rights go responsibilities. Rights that have the potential to take life should have to hold a higher standard. We are more careful about who gets to drive than we are about who gets to own a gun. Somehow that just seems really screwed up.
Make no mistake. A gun is designed to kill. A car is not. Do we need to make laws about how to store guns? Why can’t people treat guns as the dangerous tools that they are? Too many slogans, not enough common sense.
I understand that many, if not most, states already have laws concerning the safe storage of guns. These laws often involve the use of trigger locks. I think the problem lies with enforcement of such laws, especially when a child is killed accidentally in his own home and the family, likely guilty of negligence and child endangerment in some form, is already grieving their loss. Often very tough cases for the law to handle, especially if you are talking prison time for parents who have other children as well.
Perhaps simply public safety announcements on a regular basis. We don’t see any of those and if we did, there is a certain element who would laugh and start squawking about their rights.
Think if kids got a regular does of DO NOT PICK UP GUNS. What if kids were told to remind their parts about safe gun storage.
We are silent on the subject.
Couldn’t agree more. Trigger locks on most of Nancy Lanza’s aresenal may have changed the outcome.
These are the stories that make me almost more angry than sad. I’ve mentioned before that our guns are kept locked up at all times, and when they are not, they are completely under our control going to to and from the range and getting cleaned–and my kids are all adults now. It’s Gun Safety 101–if you can’t even get the basics down, you have no business owning guns (or maybe even having children). It’s no different than having the sense to cover electrical outlets and putting latches on cabinets to keep kids from dying of electrocution or poisoning. What a needless and totally preventable loss of precious life, and now baggage for that poor little boy to live with.
The homeowner isn’t mentioned at all in the story. It sounds like he was the total moron.
Emma, you are right, it is enraging.
While I might not have covered electrical sockets since I don’t have little kids, I simply wouldn’t have a gun lying around.
@Emma
I’ll go with your second – shouldn’t have kids….
A number of these shooting cases do not fit the far too frequent pattern of negligent parents with unsecured guns in a home with children. This one seems to be one of the “different” cases. Latest reporting says that the gun owner, a former military policeman, had no children in his home. He was a close friend and former “roommate” of the dead man, who paid an unannouced visit with his young son at the home of the gun owner. Within minutes of his arrival, the small boy found the gun and pulled the trigger out of curiosity.
No word yet on whether the gun was routinely kept where the young boy found it or whether the owner had it out for some reason and forgot to secure it when the surprise visitors showed up. Charges are not being filed against the gun owner.
It seems to me that kids these days wander more around the homes they are visiting than I or my own children did at that age. I think that calls for much greater alertness and good sense on the part of hosts.
Its probably not real smart to keep unsecured loaded guns lying around the home regardless. If someone breaks in, then you have more weapons on the street in the hans of criminals.
Any way you cut this it’s terrible and finding an excuse for the home/gun owner doesn’t help matters. Your comment about having a loaded gun just laying around is well made Moon. But I suppose Sevond Amendment and NRA folks won’t see it that way.
Well, the police are now reporting that the gun owner lived alone, had the gun for self-defense, and was asleep in the back bedroom when the unannounced visitors arrived. Police don’t know if he had enough time to get up and secure the gun before the boy found it. But, George, I am a 2A person and I do see it that way. That gun should not have been left unsecured even under those solo conditions. In fact, I just read a statement from a well-known gun safety expert in Iowa who said just about what Moon said in her post: You do NOT leave guns unsecured at any time.