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The Kids - Little Angels -

10/25/22 -CNN -ST. LOUIS SCHOOL SHOOTER - 

Had An Ar-15-Style Rifle, 600 Rounds Of Ammo And A Note Saying ‘I Don’t Have Any Friends. I Don’t Have Any Family,’ Police Say - 

The 19-year-old gunman who killed two people and wounded several others at his former high school left a note saying his struggles led to “ the perfect storm for a mass shooter,” St. Louis police said.  Orlando Harris graduated from Central Visual and Performing Arts High School last year and returned Monday with an AR-15-style rifle, over 600 rounds of ammunition and more than a dozen high-capacity magazines, St. Louis police Commissioner Michael Sack said.  Harris died at a hospital after a gun battle with officers.

Investigators found a handwritten note in the car Harris drove to the school. Sack detailed some of the passages:“I don’t have any friends. I don’t have any family. I’ve never had a girlfriend. I’ve never had a social life. I’ve been an isolated loner my entire life,” the note said, according to Sack. “This was the perfect storm for a mass shooter.” 

Given the gunman’s extensive arsenal, the tragedy could have been “much worse,” the police chief said.  Authorities credited locked doors and a quick law enforcement response – including by off-duty officers – for preventing more deaths at the school. 

But the shooter did not enter a checkpoint where security guards were stationed, said DeAndre Davis, director of safety and security for St. Louis Public Schools.  Davis also said the security guards stationed in the district’s schools are not armed, but mobile officers who respond to calls at schools are.

“For some people that would cause a stir of some sort,” Davis said Tuesday. “For us, we thought it’s best for our officers, for the normalcy of school for kids, to not have officers armed in the school.”  A talented dancer and a heroic teacher were killed

Student Alexandria Bell, 15, and teacher Jean Kuczka, 61, were gunned down in the attack.  One of the teacher’s colleagues, Kristie Faulstich, said Kuczka died protecting her students.  During the rush to evacuate students from the school, “One student looked at me and she said, ‘They shot Ms. Kuczka.’ And then she said that Ms. Kuczka had put herself between the gunman and the students,” Faulstich said. 

Kuczka was looking forward to retiring in just a few years, her daughter Abigail Kuczka told CNN.   Alexandria was looking forward to her Sweet 16, her father Andre Bell told CNN affiliate KSDK.   “It’s a nightmare,” Bell said. “I am so upset. I need somebody – police, community folks, somebody – to make this make sense.”   He joins a growing list of parents grappling with the reality of their child being killed at school.

Across the country, at least 67 shootings have happened on school grounds so far this year.   Students will be able to return to the school as early as Thursday to retrieve their belongings and will attend online classes until the school reopens, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams said.

It could take up to two months before the school will be ready for in-person classes, he said.  Adams also said the district is planning to add gun safety to its curriculum.

“The gun safety initiative, quite frankly, was a plan put together to try to address the kind of issues that happen outside of our school district, outside of our school buildings, in terms of the number of students who have been shot in the city of St. Louis, and that die, quite frankly, as a result of incidents that happened outside of the school environment,” he said.

‘How did that man get inside the school?’  Bell, the father of the slain teen, said he’s struggling to get answers about what happened.  “I really want to know: How did that man get inside the school?” he told KSDK.

Authorities have said the doors were locked. But the St. Louis police commissioner declined to detail how the shooter got in.  “I don’t want to make this easy for anybody else,” Sack said.  The gunman didn’t conceal his weapon when entering the school, Sack said.   “When he entered, it was out … there was no mystery about what was going to happen,” the commissioner said. “He had it out and entered in an aggressive, violent manner.”

‘Miles Davis is in the building’  Faulstich said school’s principal came over the intercom and used the code phrase “Miles Davis is in the building” to let faculty know an active shooter was in the building.  “I instantly but calmly went to lock my door and turn off the lights,” the teacher said. “I then turned to my kids and told everyone to get in the corner.”  Within a minute of locking her second-floor classroom door, Faulstich said, someone started “violently jostling the handle, trying to get in.” 

“I absolutely commend my students for their response,” Faulstich said. “Even in the moments when they were hearing gunfire going on all around they stood quiet and I know they did it to keep each other safe.”   Adrianne Bolden, a freshman at the school, told KSDK that students thought the school was conducting a drill – until they heard the sirens and noticed their teachers were scared.

“The teacher, she crawled over and she was asking for help to move the lockers to the door so they can’t get in,” Bolden said. “And we started hearing glass breaking from the outside and gunshots outside the door.”  Sophomore Brian Collins, 15, suffered gunshot wounds to his hands and jaws. He escaped by jumping from a classroom window onto a ledge, his mother VonDina Washington said.

“He told me they heard an active shooter notification over the intercom so everyone in the class hid,” Washington said. According to her son, the gunman then came into the classroom and fired several shots before leaving.  After the gunman left the third-floor classroom, Washington said another student opened a classroom window, and some of them jumped. 

Brian has numbness in his hands and trouble moving some of his right-hand fingers.   “He’s really good at drawing,” Washington said. “He went to CVPA for visual arts, and we’re hoping he’ll be able to draw again.”   Math teacher David Williams told CNN everyone went into “drill mode,” turning off lights, locking doors and huddling in corners so they couldn’t be seen.

He said he heard someone trying to open the door and a man yell, “You are all going to f**king die.”  A short time later, a bullet came through one of the windows in his classroom, Williams said.  His classroom is on the third floor, where Sack said police engaged the shooter.  Eventually, an officer said she was outside, and the class ran out through nearby emergency doors.  Officers rushed in about 4 minutes after the shooting started

Security personnel were at the school when the gunman arrived, St. Louis Public Schools Communications Director George Sells said.  “We had the seven personnel working in the building who did a wonderful job getting the alarm sounded quickly,” Sells said.

The commissioner did say the school doors being locked likely delayed the gunman.  “The school was closed and the doors were locked,” Sack told CNN affiliate KMOV. “The security staff did an outstanding job identifying the suspect’s efforts to enter, and immediately notified other staff and ensured that we were contacted.”

A call about an active shooter at the high school came in around 9:11 a.m., according to a timeline provided by the commissioner.  Police arrived on scene and made entry four minutes later. 

Officers found the gunman and began “engaging him in a gunfight” at 9:23 a.m. Two minutes later, officers reported the suspect was down.   Asked about the eight minutes between officers’ arrival and making contact with the gunman, Sack said “eight minutes isn’t very long,” and that officers had to maneuver through a big school with few entrances and crowds of students and staff who were evacuating.

Police found the suspect “not just by hearing the gunfire, but by talking to kids and teachers as they’re leaving,” Sack said.  As phone calls came in from people hiding in different locations, officers fanned out and searched for students and staff to escort them out of the building.  Officers who were at a church down the street for a fellow officer’s funeral also responded to the shooting, the commissioner said.

A SWAT team that was together for a training exercise was also able to quickly load up and get to the school to perform a secondary sweep of the building, Sack said.  Some officers were “off duty; some were in T-shirts, but they had their (ballistic) vests on,” the commissioner said. “They did an outstanding job.”

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado, Adrienne Broaddus, Raja Razek, Amanda Jackson and Paul P. Murphy contributed to this report.

UVALDE

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Nineteen children were looking forward to a summer filled with Girl Scouts and soccer and video games. Two teachers were closing out a school year that they started with joy and that had held such promise. 

They’re the 21 people who were killed Tuesday when an 18-year-old gunman barricaded himself in a fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School in the southwestern Texas town of Uvalde. Some families have been willing to share their stories with The Associated Press and other media.  Others asked for privacy.  Here are their names.

Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10  — Her aunt noted that Nevaeh’s first name is heaven spelled backward. In a Facebook posting, Yvonne White described Nevaeh and her friend Jailah Silguero as “Our Angels.” 

Jacklyn Cazares, 9  —  Javier Cazares said his daughter was someone who would give the “shirt off her back” to help someone. “She had a voice,” he said. “She didn’t like bullies, she didn’t like kids being picked on. All in all, full of love. She had a big heart.” Annabell Rodriguez, also a victim, was Jacklyn’s second cousin.

Makenna Lee Elrod, 10  — Makenna’s father asked on Tuesday if he could go to the local funeral home to search for his daughter because he feared “she may not be alive,” TV station KTRK reported. Her family later asked for privacy.

Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10 — Jose’s parents told CNN that the 10-year-old was helpful around the house and loved his younger siblings. “He was just very good with babies,” his mother said. His father told CNN that Jose loved baseball and video games and “was always full of energy.” A photo taken at school Tuesday shows him smiling and proudly holding a certificate to show he made the honor roll. 

Eliahna Garcia, 9  -Eliahna’s relatives recalled her love of family. “She was very happy and very outgoing,” said her aunt, Siria Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Elementary School in the same district. “She loved to dance and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with the family.”

Irma Garcia, 48  - Irma Garcia was finishing up her 23rd year as a teacher at Robb Elementary School. In a letter posted on the school’s website at the beginning of the school year, Garcia told her students that she had been married for nearly a quarter of a century and that she and her husband, Joe, had four children — a Marine, a college student, a high school student and a seventh grader. She told the students that she loved barbeque, listening to music and taking country cruises with her husband. On Thursday, Joe Garcia died of a heart attack, according to a nephew.

Uziyah Garcia, 10  — Uziyah’s grandfather called him “the sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known.” Manny Renfro said he last saw Uziyah when the boy came to his home over spring break. “We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”

Amerie Jo Garza, 10  —  Amerie loved to paint, draw and work in clay. “She was very creative,” said her grandmother Dora Mendoza. “She was my baby. Whenever she saw flowers she would draw them.” For her 10th birthday, Amerie was given her first cellphone. Her stepfather, Angel Garza, recalled that her face “just lit up with the happiest expression.” Garza said that Amerie’s friend told him that Amerie had tried to call the police on her phone before she was shot.

Xavier Lopez, 10  — Xavier had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming. “He was just a loving ... little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen,” said his cousin, Liza Garza. “He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.”

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10  —  Carmelo Quiroz’s grandson had begged to be allowed to join his grandmother on Tuesday as she accompanied her great-granddaughter’s kindergarten class to the San Antonio Zoo. But, he said, the family told Jayce it didn’t make sense to skip school so close to the end of the year. Besides, Jayce liked school. “That’s why my wife is hurting so much, because he wanted to go to San Antonio,” Quiroz told USA Today. “He was so sad he couldn’t go. Maybe if he would have gone, he’d be here.” He died with his cousin, Jailah Nicole Silguero.

Tess Mata, 10  —  Faith Mata told The Washington Post that her sister loved TikTok dance videos, Ariana Grande, the Houston Astros, and having her hair curled.

Maranda Mathis, 11  —  The mother of a close friend described Maranda as “very loving and very talkative.” She told the Austin American-Statesman that her daughter and Maranda had been in the same classes and that Maranda would ask to have her hair done like her daughter’s. 

Eva Mireles, 44 —  In a post on the school’s website at the start of the year, the fourth-grade teacher said she had been teaching for 17 years. Mireles loved running and hiking. She said she and her husband, a school district police officer, had an adult daughter and three pets. 

Alithia Ramirez, 10  —  Alithia Ramirez loved soccer and she really loved to draw. Her father Ryan Ramirez’s Facebook page includes a photo, now shown around the world, of the little girl wearing the multi-colored T-shirt that announced she was out of “single digits” after turning 10 years old. The same photo was posted again Wednesday with no words, but with Alithia wearing angel wings.

Annabell Rodriguez, 10  —  Polly Flores told the New York Times that her great-niece Annabell Rodriguez was an honor roll student and close to her second cousin Jacklyn Cazares. 

Maite Rodriguez, 10  —  After a rough time with Zoom classes during the pandemic, Maite Rodriguez made the honor roll for straight As and Bs this year and was recognized at an assembly on Tuesday, said her mother, Ana Rodriguez. Maite especially liked physical education, and after she died, her teacher texted Ana Rodriguez to say she was highly competitive at kickball and ran faster than all the boys. Her mother described Maite as “focused, competitive, smart, bright, beautiful, happy.” Maite wanted to be a marine biologist and after researching a program at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi she told her mother she wanted to study there.

Alexandria “Lexi” Rubio, 10  —  Lexi’s mother, Kimberly Rubio, posted on Facebook that her daughter was honored for earning all A grades and received a good citizen award in ceremonies at the school shortly before the shooting. The fourth-grader was a softball and basketball player who wanted to be a lawyer. Lexi’s father, Felix Rubio, is a deputy with the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office. The couple told CNN that he was among the law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting. 

Layla Salazar, 11  — Layla’s father said she loved to run and swim, dance to TikTok videos and play games including Minecraft and Roblox with friends. He said she won all six of her dashes and hurdles races at the school’s past three annual field days. He said each morning as he drove her to school in his pickup, he would play “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses and they would sing along.

Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10  — Jailah’s mother tearfully told Univision that her daughter did not want to go to school the day of the shooting, and thought that maybe she sensed something was going to happen. Jailah and her cousin, Jayce Luevanos, died in the classroom. 

Eliahna Torres, 10  —  Adolfo Torres told the Associated Press that his granddaughter, Eliahna, died in the shooting. Television station KIII reported that Eliahna was set to play the last softball game of her season that day. The team members kneeled for a moment of silence to remember Eliihana and the other victims.

Rojelio Torres, 10   —  Rojelio Torres’ mother, Evadulia Orta, told ABC News her son was a very smart and loving child. “I lost a piece of my heart,” she said.

MORE ANGELS LOST 

CHILDREN DYING  INVOLVING UNSECURED 

FIREARMS ARE A COMMON OCCURRENCE IN THE US

UNACCEPTABLE

UVALDE AGAIN  —  2 PEOPLE SHOT IN UVALDE'S MEMORIAL PARK, POLICE SAY
Two people were shot Thursday at Memorial Park in Uvalde, Texas.   (CNN) — As dozens of kids played and people picnicked at Memorial Park in Uvalde, Texas, on Thursday afternoon, gunfire interrupted the scene in what authorities believe was gang-related violence.

Two juveniles were taken to hospitals in San Antonio for treatment but their conditions were unknown, according to a statement from the Uvalde Police Department. Four suspects are in custody and are being questioned, the department said Thursday night. 

Celeste Ibarra told CNN she was at the park with her daughter, Aubriella, who has PTSD and depression from the May 24 shooting at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School, where she was a third grader on the day 19 of her schoolmates and two teachers were gunned down. 

The Ibarras were enjoying their day at the park with other family members and as they was loading their car to leave, gunfire broke out between the slides and basketball courts.   "A lot of kids were ducking and diving again," Ibarra said. "It was horrible."   State troopers responded quickly to the park and escorted people out, she added.

Memorial Park is near the Uvalde town square, where a makeshift memorial was established to honor those lost in the May shooting. It is about a mile and a half from the now-shuttered elementary school.

The shooting comes just days after the new school year began and in the wake of the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut.

Officer Jessica Zamora told CNN that the shooting happened at about 5:30 p.m. CT, but they did not yet have details on the conditions of the victims nor their identities. 

Uvalde mayor Don McLaughlin told CNN that the shooting is believed to be "gang-related.”  A new school year in Uvalde begins 

Ibarra said she didn't see anyone hit by the bullets. Gang activity is highly unusual in Uvalde, she told CNN.   Authorities say they are in the early stages of their investigation. 

"We are working with the Uvalde Police Department and Sheriff's Office following a suspected gang related shooting at Memorial Park," the Texas Department of Public Safety tweeted. "This information is preliminary, as the situation develops we will work with local law enforcement to provide updates.”

Hey Abbott!  Jerkoff and Do- Nothing —  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he was outraged to hear about the gang-related violence, adding that he has directed the public safety department to send six more trooper units to Uvalde and for troopers to patrol in gang hotspots. "Gang violence has no place here in Texas, and we will bring the full force of justice down on these heinous criminals," he said in his statement on Twitter.

STUDENT SHOT DEAD IN BALTIMORE SCHOOLYARD  —  09/02/202  —  (CNN) —  Both students illegally had guns and fired , Both were 17 and underage, illegal to have and carry a gun   —  A student at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School in Baltimore, Maryland, has died after being shot Friday in the schoolyard, according to Baltimore Police.  School had just started for the year on Monday.

A suspect approached the victim, 17, during dismissal. The encounter became heated, and the suspect produced a firearm, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said at a news conference on Friday.  The suspect, also 17, shot at the victim multiple times, Harrison said.

The alleged shooter ran down the street, and school police apprehended him after a short pursuit without "incident or injury," Harrison said.  Authorities also recovered a firearm that the suspect was seen discarding, he said. 

School police performed CPR on the student at the scene, who had life-threatening gunshot wounds, Baltimore Police said in a written statement. The victim was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a local hospital, the statement said.   "This is an extremely tragic situation, beyond tragic, happening on the grounds of a school in the beginning of the school year," Harrison said.

The person in custody is a student at another high school in the city, according to Harrison. Police have not yet named the victim or the suspect.   Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises thanked police officers for apprehending the suspect "within seconds of the incident."

👺  ST LOUIS - MISSOURI  —  09/01/22  —  One YEAR OLD SHOOTS HIMSELF — 

• On Thursday, WDAM reported that a toddler in St. Louis, Missouri has died after accidentally shooting himself in the head.  I do not believe what I just read  that a one year old shot himself — something is not right here.
• "Police initially said the boy was 2 years old but later clarified he was 1 year old," reported Emily Van de Riet. "The boy was barely conscious and barely breathing when paramedics rushed him to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.”   
• According to the report, child abuse and crisis response experts were summoned to the scene.  “This is just a terrible tragedy that should have never happened," said St. Louis Police Lt. Co. Michael Sack.  
  "Guns are inherently dangerous.  There are a number of them in our community.  All of us who own firearms or who have firearms must be responsible with their care and their use.”   ( Brilliant)
• Police arrived at the 900 block of Melvin Drive at about 1 p.m. local time, following reports of a shooting.  They found a boy, later identified by police as Khori Patterson, who was heavily bleeding and rushed him to hospital in a police SUV.   
• St. Louis  Police Department Interim Chief Michael Sack explained this was “ because the estimated arrival time of the ambulance was going to be too great.”  En route they linked up with an ambulance, which completed the journey to the hospital emergency room.
• Police confirmed the child had died on Wednesday. In a statement sent to Newsweek, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said: "Preliminary investigation revealed the victim got ahold of a firearm within the residence and accidentally shot himself. The Child Abuse Unit assumed the ongoing investigation.”   Sack expressed his horror later that day, speaking outside the property where the shooting took place.
• He said: "This is just a terrible tragedy that should have never happened.  "Guns are inherently dangerous. There are a number of them in our community.   All of us who own firearms or who have firearms must be responsible with their care and their use."  Sack added that at least one member of the boy's family was present when the shooting took place, but it's unclear whether that person was an adult.
• The interim police chief urged parents to keep firearms secure and away from children, noting St. Louis Police Department has free gun locks available for the public.  He commented: "Keeping a gun out of the reach of a small child, while not as safe and secure as a gun lock, is better than leaving it in a low area where a child might be able to access it.”
• In a statement sent to local TV network 5 On Your Side, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones expressed her horror at what had taken place.   She said: "Losing a child is the biggest fear of any parent, and we must do everything we can to protect our babies. "Gun locks are available for pick up at city firehouses, police stations and libraries and I urge parents to get involve with Educators For Gun Safety to learn more.”
• Speaking to the network, neighbor Elfirma Furlow added: "It's just awful to hear that. I also agree if people are going to have guns, they need to lock up their guns.”

👺  SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT HERE  —  

• I will follow this case and I suspect something else happened and a complete investigation.
• I would want the father/ mother owner of that firearm Jailed and tried for criminal negligence and child abuse. 
• Thats is a felon -  Possible child neglect — He should be declared a felon,  never to own a weapon again.   
• Questions -  Having been to many crime scenes, something is not right here.  
  • I do not see a one year old raising a gun to his head and pulling a trigger.   
  • I think Daddy or another person in the house was playing with the gun and it fired not knowing.
  • I need to know Make and Model of the revolver or automatic with safety.   
  • A revolver takes 5-6 lbs trigger pull and tiny fingers don’t have the throw.   
  • An automatic usually has a safety and has to be cocked for the first shot if a round was in the chamber and the slide had been racked. 
• My gut says there is a lot more to this story, a likely scenario, Daddy or someone else was in the house was playing with the gun or another child, and yes, it unfortunately went off.   And they are covering this person, the situation is severe enough.  
• You don’t leave toddlers one year old alone in a house and in proximity to a gun, something doesn’t click.

FLORIDA LOOKING AT OPEN CARRY — 06/2022 --  In June, an eight-year-old Florida boy fatally shot his infant sister with a gun belonging to his father. Our Governor, as sick as Abbott in the head is another GOP aspiration and student of stupid.  He wants unlimited carry of weapons.  Just as in Texas, how many do we have to see killed before someone saves us all by putting a few bullets in their head.

DETROIT  — 08/2022 —  In Detroit, a five-year-old boy playing with a gun fatally shot himself in the face in August.  He obviously lacked three things,  amiss would have helped, and empty gun and a parent with brains — This again I have no compassion for the parent, he deserves jail.   No consequence , this will continue to go on. What part of reason do you idiots doesn’t make sense.   No consequence no effort.

CORPUS CHRISTI TEXAS — 09/01/2022 —   There have been numerous near misses as well; in Corpus Christi, Texas this week, a four-year-old brought a loaded handgun to school, triggering alarms as it came just one month after the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

09/03/2022  As the new school year ramps up across much of the country a 4-year-old student arrived at a Texas elementary school with a loaded handgun, prompting a lockdown and resulting in charges against their father. 
The child brought the gun to John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Corpus Christi Wednesday morning. School officials learned about the weapon on campus at 9 a.m., the West OSO Independent School District said in a statement.  
Corpus Christi police said an off-duty officer was called in after the firearm was discovered around 9:15 a.m. and was able to secure the weapon without incident. Police said officers went to the child's home to investigate and identified the child's parents as the owners of the gun. Paul Torres, 30, was arrested and charged with making a firearm accessible to children and endangering a child. 

HANCOCK COUNTY, Mississippi  —  A 14-year-old girl who died from a gunshot wanted to be TikTok famous and be the best friend, daughter and sister she could be. Those are the words her aunt wrote about her in a post that features some of the young girl’s social media videos.

Alexis Sky Pierson died after being shot by another child, said Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam on Wednesday. It happened at a duplex on East Madison Street in the Bayside Park community.

According to the sheriff, a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old who were next door walked over to hang out with the teen girl and her 10-year-old brother. The visitors reportedly brought two guns with them, and all four kids went into the bedroom.

The guns were on the bed when one of the kids picked one up around 8:30pm. Thinking it was empty, the sheriff said the youth pointed the gun toward Alexis and pulled the trigger. A bullet was discharged from the weapon, striking the girl just below her left eye. She died instantly.

The sheriff said the investigation has determined the shooting “ was not intentional.” Nevertheless, the case will be presented to Hancock County Youth Court so it can be determined whether the facts should lead to any charges.

No adults are currently charged with crimes. However, there are underlying questions being asked, such as how the two children got access to the guns. Sheriff Adam said it’s too soon to tell if any future charges will be filed. That is part of the investigation, which is ongoing.

Kolby Sims said he’s been neighbors with Pierson for over three years and was with another neighbor outside during the shooting. He said they heard a loud thud and thought the children dropped something.

“He went upstairs to go tell them to calm down and all the kids just started running outside, Sims said. “It went downhill from there. They were all scared when they ran out.”   Alexis was part Choctaw and her native name was Sky Blue, said Boswell.

In addition to her mother and stepfather, Alexis is survived by an older brother, a younger brother and a baby sister, as well as numerous other loved ones.  Alexis, also known as Lexi, was a sixth grade student at Hancock Middle School. The school district released a statement Wednesday afternoon expressing their profound sadness.

“We extend our sympathy and prayers to the family during this difficult time,” the statement read. “Today, counselors, teachers and other support staff have been, and will continue to be, available to students, staff, and parents. How children react in these situations varies. Children may ask questions about death, be sad or afraid. We encourage parents to listen to their children and if they want to talk, answer his or her questions simply and honestly.”  

And as a lesson to others   “ LOCK THE F*CKING GUNS UP”  Moron Parents + Parental Stupidity by not following safety practices,  not the kids =  killed this beautiful young life — 

IDIOTS BEHIND THE WHEEL—  It’s a social issue, the guns are not the problems, as the expression goes, it’s the idiot behind the wheel, the finger on the trigger, and gross neglect.  Weapons don’t have brains, children don't know consequence, and neither do some of the parents. They don’t “go off” of their own accord. But and here is the big butt,  ( mis-spelled intentionally to recognize those idiots)  Without access to a weapon, nothing so heinous as taking a life could happen.  Thats why they make safes, locks and other determents to having a finger on a trigger.

That child did not walk into a Firearms Dealer or Store, present his Mickey Mouse Club Membership card and purchase a weapon with marbles.  Someone had a hand, usually a friend or adult  in ending this child’s life or his siblings life due to neglectful actions by the other person. Blame it on ….

Parental Stupidity, an Ignorance of gun safety , placement, under lock and key,  access to children.  Some people have acquired guns with no training, nor a knowledge of laws pertaining to their weapon.

Another problem is Genetics, parents who want children to be just like Dad, only Dads never truly embraced safety.  It’s a right of passage in some societies. Mentions it once goes to the range, and forgets everything.  Most likely he is the same party teaching his children guns are macho, manly and so forth. 

A real culprit is the Media, Television, Computer Games, and Real War thru media exposure.  The news media doesn’t do enough to promote gun safety, the TV has entertainment shows are mostly shooting and violence and lets face it we live in a country with 340 million people and about two guns for everyone. Having an ongoing war for 13 years certainly qualifies as one of the main endorsers of violence.

And number one on my hit list are computer games - Where you reboot and re-life certainly sends a bad message. Dead kids don’t get up for another round.  Thats an 8 year old at the NRA show, racking a slide on a semi-automatic pistol.

I DON’T BLAME THE GUNS  — NOVEMBER 2015 - A nine year old was arrested by local police in my town in the Tampa Bay area when the bus driver saw a gun in this kids pocket and radioed law enforcement.  It was a two shot Derringer in a 45 plus caliber, a common back up pocket weapon commonly carried in bear country.   The NRA will tell you these are isolated incidents.  

MAY 2016 - My local paper tells me this week alone two children in separate accidents under the age of six managed to find loaded guns in their home left unlocked, unguarded and the children  killed themselves.  One was four and one was five.   Parents at fault.

APRIL 2016 - Another unsecured loaded gun found it’s way into the hands of a five year old boy who shot his 4 year old sister to death.  State laws will dictate trial of the parent under neglect and the accessible gun laws.  Regardless it won’t bring back the child.  Parents at fault.

THE ODYSSEY OF JAMIE GILT VOTED  DUMBEST MOM ON THE PLANET — 

Months ago,  the very pretty, stupid, not too bright Jamie Gilt,  31, a mother, self-adoring model, actress, story teller, high-profile pro-gun activist, prosecuted shop-lifter, self made celebrity facebook advocate, and Twitter no-brainer was shot in the back by her four year old boy after spending her motherly time grandstanding probably looking for some publicity or a job from the NRA.  

A real gun advocate, unfortunately she suffers from PALINITIS,  (a mental disease very noticeable and named after Sarah Palin who will carry her dumbass mentality to the grave drawn by seven white caribou)  bragged about she’s teaching her 4 year old how to shoot.  It appears she never graduated the four year old course on being a good mother.

Jamie posts about firearms on her social media accounts. She was shot in the back by her four-year-old son after he found her pistol lying on the back seat of her truck just 24 hours after she boasted about his shooting skills online.   This is true, he is skilled at four, he center massed the target at almost two feet.

“Even my 4 year old gets jacked up to target shoot with the .22".  She reportedly believes she has the right to shoot anyone who threatens her family - and plans to teach her offspring the same mentality.   Obviously her 4 year old believed that and shot Mom.    In truth, the moron Mom is a threat to their family.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday filed an affidavit with local prosecutors asking that Gilt be charged with the second-degree misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to 180 days in jail, Capt. Gator DeLoach told reporters.  She plea bargained.

And not to say she’s an angel  —  In 2013, Jamie Gilt, 30, was arrested by Jacksonville Sheriff's Department on April 4, 2013 after she was detained by security guards at Dillard's department store in the town.   She was arrested by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department and charged with a felony count Grand Theft Retail.  Officers released her on a bond of $2,503 pending a court hearing.  

The suspect was detained by loss protection personnel and the property, totaling $455 was recovered.  Had she been convicted of a felony grand theft and had a felony arrest record she would not have access to guns.

APRIL 27, 2016,  MORE TRAGEDY - MILWAUKEE — The family of 26-year-old Patrice Price continues to cope with her death.  The young mother of three was shot and killed by her own two-year-old son, whom officials say got hold of a gun and fired from the backseat of a vehicle his mother was driving on Highway 175.

According to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26, Price was driving a vehicle -- headed southbound on Highway 175 in Milwaukee.  At Vliet, her two-year-old son fired a gun through the back of the driver's seat -- the bullet striking and killing Price. Officials said the gun apparently slid out from under the driver’s seat.

The 26-year-old Milwaukee woman was driving her boyfriend’s car when a gun slid out from under the driver's seat and her 2-year-old son picked it up and fired it from the back seat. 

OKLAHOMA - MAY 2013 -  MS. SAYLOR MARTINE
Of Oklahoma, fifteen, died after she was shot in the head while toying with a firearm.  She was with her sister.  The culprit, according to the police, a semi-auto owned by her parents. It was purchased by Mom for her own protection.  So the story goes, she and her sister had been handling the gun when they placed it down on a counter, where it discharged.  

I call her the girl with angel eyes, how tragic.

No one believes the gun went off by itself, and fifty years in this game and I haven’t seen one go off by itself except in a fire. But I’m sure there is enough grief to go around, and the Sheriff is hesitant is doing anything about it.  He spoke and thought it was a gun defect.  

Obviously there is more to this.  The sister or possibly the mother know the truth, but a child is dead and someone was negligent.  The mother should be charged, and the child will have to live with it.

MASSACHUSETTS OCTOBER 2008 -  CHRISTOPHER BIZILJ -
A family man goes to a gun show in his small New England town of Westfield, MA. with his son and a camera. It was co-sponsored by the local traffic ticketing Sheriff who had a financial consideration (sponsor and partner) in the show.  See picture of this A-Hole below.  

With an “Instructor” watching, (determined to be uncertified, not old enough, the son of one of the sponsors, recently recruited, 14 year old)  the 8-year-old boy at the gun fair aimed a full auto Uzi submachine gun at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera.  The 14 year old “Instructor” had told the father he didn’t think this was safe.

It was his first time shooting a fully automatic gun, and anyone who has ever fired an UZI or Scorpion or Scepter know these things have the muzzle rise of an ATLAS rocket for the untrained.

It was too much for the 8-year old boy, simply the weapon had too much muzzle rise for him and literally shot his head off with Dad in the beginning proudly filming this important event in his child’s life.  No one got charged.  We predict nothing will come of it.
More on this story and the conclusion:  Http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/14/Massachusetts.gun.show.verdict/index.html

PHOENIX - AUGUST 2014   CHARLES VACCA, 39The 9-year-old girl who accidentally shot and killed a firing range instructor with an Uzi last week told her mother immediately afterward that the gun was too powerful for her and that it had hurt her shoulder, according to a Mohave County Sheriff’s Office report released Tuesday.

The family huddled around the girl, fearing she was injured, and did not realize that instructor Charles Vacca, 39, was wounded until another employee ran over, according to the report. After realizing what had occurred, the girl's parents immediately removed her and their other two children from the property and brought them to the nearby restaurant so they wouldn't see what happened, the report states.

The New Jersey family had been vacationing in Las Vegas and on Aug. 25 was shuttled to Bullets and Burgers, the firing range at Last Chance property in White Hills, Ariz. The family had taken a ride on a monster truck before heading to the shooting range, according to the report.

The girl's father was the first to fire the weapon, a mini Uzi 9mm, and then the girl took her turn. With the girl's mother recording, Vacca showed the 9-year-old how to stand and shoot the gun, allowing her to fire a few rounds.

At this point Vacca switched the gun into its automatic setting, according to a deputy who would later view the mother's video.  "(The father) said all of a sudden he heard a lot of rounds fire and saw (his daughter) drop the gun to the ground," the report states.

 MORE FROM MY FILES —  
•   In Kentucky, a five year old, just given a rifle, a sort of rite of passage in some families, left out in the open in a corner of the room, loaded and he proceeded to shoot his sister who was four.

•   3 year old Had Speights, accidentally shot and killed himself last month with his uncle’s handgun, which he found in a backpack.


•   Jarvis Jackson (1) was accidentally shot and killed by a boy (4) last month after their baby sitter brought a handgun to the house for personal protection and then fell asleep after leaving the gun loaded and unsecured on the kitchen table.


•   4-year-old Cody Ryan Hall, who accidentally shot and killed himself in April with a family owned handgun he found in an unlocked gun case.

TOMS RIVER NJ - A six-year-old Toms River New Jersey boy accidentally shot by Brandon Holt, 4-year-old neighbor on Monday night, has died.  Police said Holt was shot in the head by his friend after the younger boy went into his home on McCormick Avenue and somehow got his hands on a .22-caliber rifle. The boy found the rifle under a bed.  Police said the 4-year-old then went outside and accidentally shot the 6-year-old, who was sitting in a quad nearby.

The boy’s father, Anthony Senatore, was arrested and charged.
 Five counts of second-degree child endangerment one count of third-degree child endangerment.   Each second-degree count could potentially bring 5 to 10 years in prison, which means that if Senatore is convicted, he could theoretically face up to 50 years in prison. 

VERDICT TOMS RIVER – A Toms River man, who accepted responsibility for the fatal shooting of his 6-year-old neighbor by his 4-year-old son, was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for leaving the loaded rifle that killed the boy unsecured and accessible to the children in his home.

Before Anthony Senatore, 35, of McCormick Drive, was sentenced for his role in the 2013 shooting death of Brandon Holt, he told Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels that his lapse in judgment will haunt two families forever.

TEXAS: JOHNSON COUNTY AUSTIN MCCORD —   “Forgot he had a loaded magazine in the AK-47” when he pulled the trigger, shooting the girl in the stomach, on her 13th birthday, in a gun-cleaning accident, this imbecile must not watch much news.  And rule one is clearing the chamber of any rounds, Rule two is don’t point, Rule three is finger off trigger. Rule four is frickin idiots should not have guns.

He accidentally shot and killed his 13-year-old step-sister on her birthday while he was cleaning his AK-47.  Emilee Bates was shot once in the stomach by 19-year-old Austin McCord in their home near Joshua, Texas on Tuesday evening as he attempted to remove rounds from his weapon, authorities said.

He immediately hit a home alarm system to notify law enforcement and six minutes later - 
at 8.11pm - sheriff’s deputies arrived to find McCord holding his sister's wound.  She was airlifted to hospital in Fort Worth, but died at about 10pm on Tuesday.

Investigators said McCord had two dummy rounds above his loaded magazine. He ejected these rounds and thought he was making the weapon safe by pulling the trigger to drop the bolt on an empty chamber - but forgot he had a loaded magazine in the gun and it discharged.

TEXAS—  I guess the Dallas man who rushed his bloody grandson to the hospital pays more attention in the future to good gun control.  It does not refer to how to hold a weapon. It refers to how to properly store a weapon so a four year old can’t shoot himself.   He is  fortunate as his 4-year-old grandson, who was visiting his home Wednesday, found a loaded handgun beneath a pillow. The little boy shot himself in the shoulder and survived BUT... history repeats itself...

TEXAS  —  Another  4-year-old boy who shot himself at his grandparents’ northwest Harris County home has died, family members confirmed Thursday. The family of Bryson Hernandez released a statement through Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Authorities arrived at the Cypress home in the 15400 block of Redbud Berry Way shortly after midnight on Tuesday. Bryson was breathing and unresponsive. He was rushed to the Texas Medical Center where he remained until his death.   Bryson was visiting his grandparents at their home. Harris County sheriff's officials said they were "cooperating with investigators fully." The findings will be forwarded to a Harris County grand jury.  Children’s Protective Services also will investigate,

CNN — OPINION BY ART ACEVEDO UPDATED 7:17 AM EDT, FRI JUNE 3, 2022

My colleagues in our profession — retired and active police chiefs and officers — have spent a lot of time talking about the terrible shooting in Uvalde.   The last thing that law enforcement needs right now is another black eye, and it got one with the police response at that elementary school. Just about every cop I’ve talked to is pretty sick about the police response. Tragically, 19 children and two teachers were killed in the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School.

Collectively, we in law enforcement hurt because in Uvalde, we failed. We failed the children. We failed the teachers. We failed the families.  In policing, we have what’s called the “ fatal funnel” — the physical area where the bullets are going to come flying when an officer responds to an active shooting scene. 

In Uvalde, the fatal funnel was the entryway to that classroom where the gunman was shooting those little kids. The police knew that when they popped that door to enter that classroom they would have to enter that fatal funnel. Someone was going to have to put their life on the line.   

I hate to say it, but losing officers is sometimes part of the job. We take an oath to protect and serve, even if it means risking our own lives, rather than swerve from the path of duty. 

After the shooting in Uvalde, police had to assume that there were a lot of wounded, innocent children inside those classrooms. Their duty was to gain access to those classrooms at all costs, neutralize the threat and take those children out of that classroom. Their task was to get those shooting victims to trauma centers and to try to save them.

In a mass shooting situation, you never operate under the assumption that everybody’s dead unless you know that for a fact. You have to assume that people are wounded and require medical attention. The only way that shooting victims are going to get help is for police to confront the threat and neutralize it.

You cannot fail to do whatever it takes to enter those classrooms. If you can’t go in through one door, find another one.  If you can’t go in through the door, go through a window. And if you can’t go through the window, crash through the drywall.

In dealing with trauma, we have what’s been called a “ golden hour” to help a shooting victim – a limited window of time to stop the bleeding, maintain an open airway and get victims to a hospital. So, the decision by the police in Uvalde not to enter that classroom for nearly an hour was absolutely the wrong decision. 

But even as we quite appropriately put a lot of focus on the police response, we also need to look at the failures of leadership by our elected officials — failures that created the circumstances that required a police response in the first place.

How was it that a troubled kid with homicidal thoughts was able to walk into a gun store right after his 18th birthday to buy assault rifles and high-capacity magazines with hundreds of rounds?

👺  PUT THE BLAME ON THE POLITICIANS AND VOTES —  

 In this country, we’ve raised the smoking age to 21. We’ve raised the drinking age to 21. And yet, we still have a lot of states where 18-year-olds can buy weapons of war — weapons that use ammunition designed to inflict the greatest amount of damage to the human body. 

We need a comprehensive approach to dealing with the scourge of mass shootings in our country. If the law had prohibited the shooter from purchasing the firearms until he was 21, he would have never been able to wreak the carnage that he did.

There’s also been a lot of chatter about those 19 police officers — who were in the hallway of the school awaiting orders to enter the classroom — being cowards. But as far as I understand, some of those officers felt frustrated. They didn’t agree with the decision.  But outranked or where was the leadership, thats who you blame — meant they were null and void — 

OUR CONGRESSIONAL SCUMBAGS  —   They could do something as simple as supporting universal background checks, or supporting robust red flag laws across the entire nation. Or they could support raising the age that someone should be able to buy weapons of war like the one used in Uvalde, from 18 to 21. 

Instead, they’ve been talking about putting more police in the schools. But if 19 “ good guys with a gun” standing out in the hall of that school couldn’t get the job done stopping a heavily armed shooter, then clearly arming police in the schools is not the solution. 

What we need is a comprehensive approach to deal with the scourge not just of mass shooters, but everyday gun violence.  And some politicians with balls instead of party leashes in their decision making — 

  NEXT 👉🏼   WE CAN LEARN FROM KIDSChildren Dying in accidents involving unsecured firearms are a common occurrence in the U.S