No Charges for San Jose Cop Whose 3-Year-old Killed Himself with Dad's Improperly Stored Weapon

The Gilroy Dispatch reports

The father of the 3-year-old Gilroy boy who accidentally shot and killed himself on July 5 will not be prosecuted, according to a report by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office which called the shooting a “horrible, irreversible mistake.”

Three-year-old Preston Orlando, the son of nine-year San Jose Police Officer Brandon Orlando, was in his parent’s bedroom on Kentwood Court around 3 p.m. when he reached into the nightstand next to the bed and accidentally shot himself in the head with his father’s Glock .30 semi-automatic handgun and the child died en route to the hospital.
 

The DA report indicated that Orlando did not meet the required elements of “gross negligence” in the storage of the weapon to warrant prosecution – namely that he did not “reasonably know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm.”

But one thing that was not considered at all – either in Orlando’s favor or against him – was the fact that he is an active duty police officer.  

“People will always ask if he got better treatment because he was a police officer, meanwhile police officers will question whether he got worse treatment. That is always going to happen,” Rosen said. “So we didn’t treat Brandon Orlando any better or worse because he was a police officer. We approached this fairly and objectively as we would anyone, regardless of their occupation.”

It's true that no punishment could match the loss of a child, and it may be true that his work did not enter into it, but it's also true that he should be held accountable for his actions.

When a man does something like this he should never be allowed near guns again.  That's my opinion.  What's yours.

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