Teen shoots family who told him to wake up for school

[purple_summer]

Quote

Sure, many schools start too early. And, sure, getting out of bed can be hard sometimes.

But one Tennessee teenager had an extreme reaction to his family’s request on Tuesday morning that he get up and get ready for school: He shot them, according to Nashville police.

The teen, who has not been publicly identified, became angry when his grandmother, Earline Hill, and mother, Sheryl Williams, told him to get his day going, police said in a statement. He threatened the pair and then retrieved a handgun no one knew he had before firing multiple shots in the family apartment, police said.

“There was a quarrel about getting up and getting ready for the day when [at some point] the 16-year-old ran to a closet, got a 9mm handgun and started firing,” Nashville police spokeswoman Kris Mumford said, according to the Tennessean newspaper.

Hill, 67, was struck at least twice, while the teen’s 12-year-old sister and 6-year-old nephew received graze wounds, according to the police statement. The teen’s 42-year-old mother, Williams, and his teen’s 2-year-old sister were not injured. None of the wounds are life-threatening, police said.

After the shooting, the teen left, dropped the gun off at a nearby apartment and was captured soon after, near some railroad tracks, police said. He was charged with four counts of attempted homicide and one count of reckless endangerment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/03/02/he-wanted-to-stay-in-bed-his-family-wanted-him-at-school-so-he-shot-them-police-say/ 

Of course we don't have a gun problem in this country....

[Jingerbread]

Let me guess.  The toddler is a reckless endangerment instead of attempted homicide.

[Chowder Head]

Ok that is scary and sounds like there might be a mental problem with the son.

[unsafetydancer]

That's pretty crazy, they let a 16 year old get hold of a gun somehow. And leave it hidden around his house where his younger siblings could get it. Also, at the risk of sounding daft what is reckless endangerment? Is that a way of getting a lighter sentence? I would class shooting a kid as attempted murder so why does the littlest kid get a lesser charge?

[Jingerbread]

2 hours ago, unsafetydancer said:

That's pretty crazy, they let a 16 year old get hold of a gun somehow. And leave it hidden around his house where his younger siblings could get it. Also, at the risk of sounding daft what is reckless endangerment? Is that a way of getting a lighter sentence? I would class shooting a kid as attempted murder so why does the littlest kid get a lesser charge?

After reading this post earlier, I saw a couple other articles pop up, and the toddler is reckless endangerment while the rest are attempted homicide.  

For some reason, America values younger lives less.  

Caution: Don't read this article if you don't want to be scarred.  The description of this baby's injuries downplays the worst of it: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1080083  The discretion advisory is for a good reason.  This may be the worst case of child abuse in the history of the US.  You name it, really, name it, and it happened to her until she died. 

Somehow the mother only got 15 years, and other adults in the house who ignored an infant being thrown against the ceiling and being left to fall to the floor didn't even get slaps on the wrist.  Is that was done to an adult, everyone would have been charged with reckless homicide or murder.  All they got were child abuse charges.

One of the major disgraces of this country is how we place a value on lives depending on how much those people are able to fight for their lives even though we should be harder on those who do things to the most helpless.

 

[Gimme a Free RV]

15 hours ago, Jingerbread said:

For some reason, America values younger lives less.  

One of the major disgraces of this country is how we place a value on lives depending on how much those people are able to fight for their lives even though we should be harder on those who do things to the most helpless.

 

SO. MUCH. THIS.

From physical abuse, to murder, I am sickened.  It's the defenseless who need the highest protection.

[unsafetydancer]

That is absolutely the most horrible thing I have ever read. Seriously no one tried to help that little kid? The mother got only 15 years in jail after allowing all those awful things to happen? Free RV is right the defenseless members of society need the most protection so the people who harm them should be given the harshest punishment. Not sure how it works over here in the UK but there was a series of massive scandals a few years back where little children died because social workers didn't spot the very obvious signs of injuries caused by abusive parents. I think in a few cases some of the parents may never be released from prison due to the public outcry.

[CryCheeble]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FmfhnNnCJM

Baby Brianna's Law was passed in NM due to this, raising the penalty for this sort of killing from a maximum of 18 years to a maximum of Life Sentence.  But there's still a big discrepancy in other states.

I think there's been work on increasing the sentence for failing to report child abuse in New Mexico, too.  Grandmother and another uncle got 30 damn days in this case.  There were 7 people in that home

There were no pictures of this child anywhere.  The only pictures that exist of her are after her death.  So a detective took one of them and had it retouched so there'd be an image of her appearing alive and healthy for her funeral.

None of the family even claimed her body.  It was the community which had volunteers claim the body, the community who donated clothes and casket for her funeral.

The family has, however, paid to have a damn cage built around her gravesite to prevent the community from leaving flowers, which people just leave around the cage, anyway.  The mother has refused offers from the community to donate a headstone.  It's just more opportunity for her to attempt to degrade her child.

She may be released on parole in October this year.  There are people fighting this possibility, but the NM Department of Corrections says that she was only charged with Child Abuse, and that at the time of her conviction Child Abuse was "not considered a violent crime."

What the actual fuck.

[Bethella]

On 3/2/2016 at 6:59 PM, unsafetydancer said:

Also, at the risk of sounding daft what is reckless endangerment?

Reckless endangerment is a crime consisting of acts that create a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person. The accused person isn't required to intend the resulting or potential harm, but must have acted in a way that showed a disregard for the foreseeable consequences of the actions. In the case of the teenager shooting his family prosectors probably can't prove that he shot at the toddler, but they can argue that he recklessly endangered the child by firing the gun (the child could have been hit by a stray bullet or ricochet)

[Jingerbread]

2 hours ago, Bethella said:

Reckless endangerment is a crime consisting of acts that create a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person. The accused person isn't required to intend the resulting or potential harm, but must have acted in a way that showed a disregard for the foreseeable consequences of the actions. In the case of the teenager shooting his family prosectors probably can't prove that he shot at the toddler, but they can argue that he recklessly endangered the child by firing the gun (the child could have been hit by a stray bullet or ricochet)

If they can prove he shot at another adult who wasn't hit, there's evidence of shooting at the toddler.

On 3/4/2016 at 1:20 AM, CryCheeble said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FmfhnNnCJM

Baby Brianna's Law was passed in NM due to this, raising the penalty for this sort of killing from a maximum of 18 years to a maximum of Life Sentence.  But there's still a big discrepancy in other states.

I think there's been work on increasing the sentence for failing to report child abuse in New Mexico, too.  Grandmother and another uncle got 30 damn days in this case.  There were 7 people in that home

There were no pictures of this child anywhere.  The only pictures that exist of her are after her death.  So a detective took one of them and had it retouched so there'd be an image of her appearing alive and healthy for her funeral.

None of the family even claimed her body.  It was the community which had volunteers claim the body, the community who donated clothes and casket for her funeral.

The family has, however, paid to have a damn cage built around her gravesite to prevent the community from leaving flowers, which people just leave around the cage, anyway.  The mother has refused offers from the community to donate a headstone.  It's just more opportunity for her to attempt to degrade her child.

She may be released on parole in October this year.  There are people fighting this possibility, but the NM Department of Corrections says that she was only charged with Child Abuse, and that at the time of her conviction Child Abuse was "not considered a violent crime."

What the actual fuck.

Something else baffling is why people who didn't claim the body or provide a funeral or even attend have the legal right to put a cage around the body they abandoned.

And a maximum sentence is only good is judges will use it.  There was more time that could have been given out, and a couple people only got 30 days.

[roddma]

I live in TN and haven't heard this Just wow. If he never pulled anything like this before, what made him change so suddenly?

Speaking of being lax on punishment for crimes against children. if you read history, laws regarding the humane treatment of animals were passed before child or domestic abuse laws. I think protection of the defenseless is lax all the way around including elder abuse.

[mstee]

On March 4, 2016 at 4:20 AM, CryCheeble said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FmfhnNnCJM

Baby Brianna's Law was passed in NM due to this, raising the penalty for this sort of killing from a maximum of 18 years to a maximum of Life Sentence.  But there's still a big discrepancy in other states.

I think there's been work on increasing the sentence for failing to report child abuse in New Mexico, too.  Grandmother and another uncle got 30 damn days in this case.  There were 7 people in that home

There were no pictures of this child anywhere.  The only pictures that exist of her are after her death.  So a detective took one of them and had it retouched so there'd be an image of her appearing alive and healthy for her funeral.

None of the family even claimed her body.  It was the community which had volunteers claim the body, the community who donated clothes and casket for her funeral.

The family has, however, paid to have a damn cage built around her gravesite to prevent the community from leaving flowers, which people just leave around the cage, anyway.  The mother has refused offers from the community to donate a headstone.  It's just more opportunity for her to attempt to degrade her child.

She may be released on parole in October this year.  There are people fighting this possibility, but the NM Department of Corrections says that she was only charged with Child Abuse, and that at the time of her conviction Child Abuse was "not considered a violent crime."

What the actual fuck.

I remember reading about that case and thinking it was one of the worst things I've ever read. The fact that there were so many people in that house that not only seemingly didn't care for this baby but seemed to actually hate her baffled me. Why the mother even went through with the pregnancy also baffles me. Not a single picture of the child in that home, constant abuse- it seems not a single person cared from the moment she was born. I'm amazed that the grandmother in that home even raised other children that survived to adulthood. Baby Brianna never stood a chance. Sorry to derail the thread. It's just one of those cases that I'll never forget. 

ETA: My fiancé knew a girl in high school that beat her baby to death. She had a toddler as well who was unharmed. She went to prison for about 10 years. And now is out, and married....and is pregnant. Talk about the justice system forgetting the littlest victims. 

[Cleopatra7]

On 3/4/2016 at 4:20 AM, CryCheeble said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FmfhnNnCJM

Baby Brianna's Law was passed in NM due to this, raising the penalty for this sort of killing from a maximum of 18 years to a maximum of Life Sentence.  But there's still a big discrepancy in other states.

I think there's been work on increasing the sentence for failing to report child abuse in New Mexico, too.  Grandmother and another uncle got 30 damn days in this case.  There were 7 people in that home

There were no pictures of this child anywhere.  The only pictures that exist of her are after her death.  So a detective took one of them and had it retouched so there'd be an image of her appearing alive and healthy for her funeral.

None of the family even claimed her body.  It was the community which had volunteers claim the body, the community who donated clothes and casket for her funeral.

The family has, however, paid to have a damn cage built around her gravesite to prevent the community from leaving flowers, which people just leave around the cage, anyway.  The mother has refused offers from the community to donate a headstone.  It's just more opportunity for her to attempt to degrade her child.

She may be released on parole in October this year.  There are people fighting this possibility, but the NM Department of Corrections says that she was only charged with Child Abuse, and that at the time of her conviction Child Abuse was "not considered a violent crime."

What the actual fuck.

I think the problem is that children are still generally seen as appendeges of their parents, rather than separate individuals with rights of their own. Consequently, children can be mistreated in a way that we would never tolerate on an adult of sound mind and body. Seriously, would Joel Steinberg be out of prison if he did what he did to his daughter to a random adult? Many parents still insist on "the right" to punish their children in any manner they choose, even though most instances of reported child abuse are the result of disciplinary situations that got out of hand. Because of this, I think prosecutors are reluctant to throw the book at child abusers, because it would mean coming into conflict with those who favor corporal punishment.

[klynn]

The Baby Brianna case is one of the most sickening, saddest things I've ever learned about.  No, it's actually THE worst.  I cry each time I see her photo.  It truly hurts my heart.  When I first heard about it, I experienced an anger I'd never felt.  Those people are some of the worst on this planet, and none of them deserve another day of freedom, or any right to any children.  My blood is boiling now. 

[Jingerbread]

On 3/5/2016 at 3:43 AM, roddma said:

I live in TN and haven't heard this Just wow. If he never pulled anything like this before, what made him change so suddenly?

Speaking of being lax on punishment for crimes against children. if you read history, laws regarding the humane treatment of animals were passed before child or domestic abuse laws. I think protection of the defenseless is lax all the way around including elder abuse.

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman had an episode on that.  A kid was being badly abused, and no one did anything, and I think it was Sully who argued that laws protect horses from being beaten to death, but not children?