Police do not anticipate filing charges against the Cumberland County mother of a 5-year-old boy who accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old sister, a Kentucky State Police spokesman said Wednesday.
“We don’t see that there was neglect on anyone’s part,” said Trooper Eric Gregory, spokesman for the Columbia post.
Cumberland County Coroner Gary White said Tuesday that the shooting would be ruled accidental.
No neglect with a loaded rifle sitting in the corner?
Caroline Sparks, 2, was pronounced dead Tuesday at Cumberland County Hospital, where she was taken after the 1 p.m. shooting on Lawson’s Bottom Road, White said…
The 5-year-old brother was identified as Christian Sparks in a statement released by Cumberland County Judge-Executive John Phelps Jr…
“The mother was home at the time, cleaning house, and stepped out to empty a mop bucket and heard a pop,” Trooper Gregory said. “She ran back in and found it had happened.”
The gun was a gift to the boy last year, White said. The gun was kept in a corner, and the family did not realize that a shell had been left in it, he said.
The Crickett rifle involved is “not 3 feet long,” Gregory said. It is manufactured by Keystone Sporting Arms, a Pennsylvania manufacturer of single-shot firearms, which advertises the Crickett on its website as “my first rifle.”
“Burkesville is the type of community that when something like this happens, everybody comes together,” Burkesville resident Vickie Temple said. “That’s just how our community is when something tragic happens.”
Something tragic happens – and no one takes responsibility.
Giving a pre-schooler a loaded weapon to play with is a disaster waiting to happen. Failing to supervise that child has nothing to do with responsibility? That he killed his sister with an “unloaded gun” is the icing on the All-American cake of predictable excuses.
I shouldn’t have to expand on this – I think – but, this is no different from the dumb motor vehicle accidents we witness or read about every day. I watched the local news, tonight, about a drunk who crashed her van killing 2 of her 4 passengers. She was 3 times the legal limit for DWI. Dumb enough? But all 4 of her passengers were thrown out of the van because none of them used their seat belts. That’s how 2 were killed. We have regulations which enforce penalties on people who do stupid deadly acts – trying to discourage others from the same. I don’t drive my pickup unless everyone has their seatbelts fastened. That’s my responsibility. My driver’s license.
Guns should have the same level of enforced responsibility. Especially in a society at least as careless with their guns as their cars.
Eideard 
Yes, I think the parents should be charged. and take not e,the article states the child was 5 so he was givena gun at age 4. What the hell kind of parenting is that?
Redneck parenting…
….why would you try to punish a parent whose 2 year old hd just been killed…? No punishment could be worse…
I would punish the parent because it is his responsibility and hopefully it will not happen to the 5 year-old as well.
If you drive drunk with a child in the car, get in an accident and the child dies – you are going to jail.
These parents are candidates for forced sterilization….
This was completely avoidable. Charge the parents. Irresponsible gun owners won’t get a lick of sympathy from me.
Well, they OBVIOUSLY didn’t give a rat’s ass about the 2 year old, BECAUSE THEY LEFT AN UNSUPERVISED 5 YEAR OLD CARRY AROUND A LOADED RIFLE.
The parents could have purchased a gun safe for much less than the price of their daughter’s funeral.
How can you call that person a parent? They should lose the 5 year old too, and do time.
It seems like a case of negligent homicide or negligent parenting which caused negligent homicide. How could you NOT KNOW the gun in your five year-old’s room was loaded??? People like that don’t deserve to have a child, let alone own a gun.
who are YOU ALL to say what should or shouldnt happen to another person?
A concerned and responsible public – thats who. This is tragic on so many levels – they should charge the mother or father because it was neglect and irresponsible – The punishment is not for her – she will go through her own private hell – The “punishment” is for society – like so many other things – it is to show there is consequences for your actions/inactions and you should/will be held accountable for those actions.
Who are you?
Guarantee this family owns more guns than books. Darwin always rules, folks…..
We, as an enlightened society, have sayings for everything. Accidents happen all the time, with many “loaded” items. People fall on knives and die. They drive cars, have accidents, die. Flying in airplanes, crash and die. Mountain climbing, fall off a cliff and die…. Now, that said, all these “accidents” could be avoided…. if only. I’m of the firm belief that if it’s your time, your done. That little girl may have been killed any number of ways, if only from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Who knows, maybe she’s better off dead than in a house full of people without the brains to check a gun or put it away at least. For crying out loud, I have three kids and as many guns but mine are in a safe and my kids are alive!!
Its only a matter of time before ‘Kablooi – My First Nuke’ hits the shelves. Time to duck and cover, folks.