“Daddy shot me.” Cops say a teen dies after a grandfather pulled the trigger thinking the gun was unloaded
A Missouri man has been arrested after police say he accidentally shot and killed his 16-year-old grandson.
When police arrived at a home in Clinton on Sunday, September 17, they found the teen lying face down in a pool of blood on the sidewalk in front of an apartment building, according to the probable cause statement. Officers and paramedics attempted to save the teenager, but he died from his injuries.
Police confronted the teen’s 70-year-old grandfather and ordered him to the ground, but he went back inside the apartment and locked the door, records say. Later, officers entered the apartment and arrested the man.
A witness at the scene told officers that she was inside the apartment, lying on her bed, when she heard gunfire. The teen then entered the room, clutching his chest and saying, “Daddy shot me,” according to the probable cause statement.
The witness told police she followed the teen outside where his grandfather was. They asked the man if he had shot the teen, and he said, “Yes,” before returning to the apartment, the probable cause statement said.
While reviewing the 911 call, police said they heard the witness ask the teen who shot him and was heard responding: “Grandpa, by chance.”
Police said they interviewed the grandfather, who told them he pointed his Glock .45 at the teen and pulled the trigger, but thought it was empty.
The man told police he had given the gun to the teen earlier in the evening “to play with,” but it had been unloaded, according to the probable cause statement. He said he took the gun, put a magazine in it, then put it in a box next to his bed, police said. The teen took the gun again and was playing with it again, court records say.
The man told police he took the loaded magazine out of the gun, thought the chamber was empty, and then pulled the trigger, police said in a probable cause statement.
Another witness told police they saw the teen playing with the gun earlier in the evening. Another person in the apartment told police they gave the suspect a glass of whiskey before the shooting, according to the probable cause statement.
Police said they found a Glock .45 pistol in the home hidden in a bookshelf and found a spent shell casing outside on the sidewalk.
The man is charged with endangering the welfare of a child – death of a child and resisting arrest, according to court records.
He was given a $100,000 bond.
Deaths by gunfire among children in the United States by 50% between 2019 and 2021, according to the Pew Research Center. In 2021, there were 549 Unintentional gun-related deathsAccording to USA facts.
Safe children all over the world He offers a list of gun safety tips, including locking them in a container and making sure they are unloaded and out of reach of children.
Clinton is located about 75 miles southeast of Kansas City.
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