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February 14, 2012
Boy accidentally shoots grandmother dead
Published: 20 Jul 10 17:56 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/27900/20100720/
A 12-year-old boy in a community in the Alingsås region in western Sweden accidentally shot his grandmother on Tuesday morning, killing her.
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In the morning, the boy's paternal grandmother came to take care of the boy and his three siblings while their father went out fishing. After his father had left, the boy took one of the small-bore rifles to go out and shoot birds in the backyard, the report said.
While on the lawn, the boy tripped and an accidental shot went off. The shot flew into the house through an open patio door, hitting his 65-year-old paternal grandmother, who was in the kitchen. The woman died on the spot. It is not yet clear who alerted emergency services, the report said.
"The family is obviously shocked and they were immediately cared for by a crisis team including, among others, a minister on duty," police spokeswoman Pia Goksöyr said in the afternoon.
"The boy is with his family because he is not suspected of any crime," she added.
Police have launched a preliminary manslaughter investigation.
"However, it is only so that we can fence off the site and make seizures," said Goksöyr.
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Fin means anyhting from sweet to proper. When someone says, Du är så fin it's quite a compliment.
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How the hell was a 12 year old able to access the keys to the gun cabinet?
The parent who had the gun license is obviously at least partly culpable.
That family will never heal.
Every little boy wants to play soldier/tough guy at some point in his childhood. My parents have tried very hard to keep violence out of their house, but my 13 yr old brother still wants archery lessons, has done since he was 7. It is part of man's DNA to want to hunt and kill. If you're going to blame this on anyone/thing, blame it on survival, on Mother Nature.
The guns were locked away, that shows me that the parents were at least trying to keep them away from the kids. We don't know where he found the keys, if they were hung up next to the car keys in the front hall or if they were hidden away in dad's underwear drawer, so we shouldn't be that hasty to condemn the parents for negligence. 12 yr old boys can be excellent at finding things they shouldn't!
My deepest sympathies to this family and my most sincere hopes that this boy will be able to come to a point where he understands that accidents can and do happen. I hope this burden will not ruin his life.
I put all my blame to irresponsible father. Since he has own such deadly weapon, he should keep it in secure way, not like this easily reachable by 12 years old.
Wish no one will have such tragedy forever again.
a) why weren't the guns properly stored and the keys hidden? more appropriately, why didn't the dad have the keys in his possession?
b) how come no one at home noticed that the guns were missing from the gun rack or gun safe? the lad had the guns for atleast 12 hours - through the night and the dad never noticed that his guns were missing?
c) who had supervision of the kids at home? why should the kids be unattended to? if someone was watching the kids, they would have noticed the lad taking the guns or going out of the house with the guns.
when one has hyperactive kids, they take extra measures to monitor such kids. this is an unfortunate situation and it should serve as a teachable moment to the living. guns are dangerous and to the extent possible, avoid owning a gun - especially one that isn't properly locked up.
Do you really think that someone watches a 12 year old for every minute of the day as though they were toddlers?
- You don't think that 12 year olds go out alone to play in the garden or ride their bikes, or go to the corner shop?
- you think that grandma makes them sit in the kitchen while she makes lunch and dinner?
- most kids go home unattended from the age of around 10 in Sweden where most organised fritids clubs cease
you do realise this is a one in over a million thing, he had the whole world to point the weapon at and managed to kill his grandma, to frighten or wound his grandma would be plausible to kill her in this manner is a bit fishy !
the report says nothing about how efficiently she was killed.
it is a lot easier to miss than to hit!
The article I read here did not say he was pointing the weapon. It says he tripped and the gun went off. The report also says the grandmother was killed instantly, how more efficient do you want it?
As for being a one in a million - well each human, as I understand, is a one in 300 million 'accident'.
For people to be so suspicious about things - without having ALL the facts - is more a mirror of their own scenario than it is of the reported circumstances.
At this time and based on what is reported here, my utmost sympathy is with the family and this 12 year old. It shall remain so unless and until other evidence suggests otherwise. My guess is that one look into this boy's face will tell all the story.
Conjecture is not evidence.
Firstly, if the boy did steal the gun and then had the sense to hide it under his bed so that no one would notice he had taken it, would he then be daft enough to fire it in the backyard of his house where his grandmother would quite obviously hear a gunshot and investigate. Secondly, I have to agree with "da goat" on this one, the likelihood of the boy tripping, falling, firing and delivering a fatal shot are ludicrously slim. Finally, in no report that I have read does it state that their were any other witnesses involved to corroborate the story and therefore I cannot understand why the police were so quick to treat this incident as a tragic accident.
On a final note, owing to the fact that the shot came through an open doorway and not through something solid such as a window the trajectory of the bullet would be difficult to trace in order to substantiate the boys evidence.
Something is just not right here - sadly.
Fair point about 'hearing the shot' - if this had been his second discharge of the gun. Are we told that?
Perhaps the speed of police comprehension is relative to the distress of the relatives - especially the boy.
You are correct, something is not right here, sadly. But that has more to do with a growing cynicism and mistrust in society than it has with this case.
I note you seem to be from the Alingsas area - from your website name, Kev - do you know something about this family that we don't?
No, I don't know the family involved and you are probably right we are all becoming more cynical and distrustful. I hope and pray this was just a freak accident, well, I wish it hadn't happened at all. Perhaps you are right.
I join you in your hopes and prayers that this was a freak accident.
Growing up with guns was a way of life for me; amazing that my great grandfather died of pneumonia at 92, my grandmother is still active at 87 and not a single member of my family died of a gunshot?
Oh, by the way, we didn't have a single weapon locked up.... you just learned how to use them and kept them away from the toddlers.
Words and bullets, you can't get them back; one just has to deal with the aftermath after they let loose. Guess where I grew up?