Tuesday, July 2, 2013

19-Year-old Chicago Man Accidentally Shoots Younger Brother in the Head While Playing with Daddy's Gun

 Michael Whitney has been accused of manslaughter

The Daily Mail

A teenager shot his high school basketball star brother in the head while playing with his father's gun, a court has heard. 

Michael Whitney then attempted to cover his tracks by shooting out a window and moving his brother's body to another room on Friday, prosecutors have said. 

The 19-year-old had taken the semi-automatic handgun which belonged to his security guard father from a drawer before teasing his 16-year-old brother Malcolm.
Malcolm was a standout basketball player at Hyde Park Academy. 

At first police thought Malcolm, who was found face down on a sofa, died of an accidental self-inflicted gun-shot. 

But his older brother Michael was charged on Saturday with manslaughter and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. 

According to prosecutors, Michael approached his brother who was in the bathroom and pointed the gun at him.

Before setting the bail amount, Circuit Court Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. said, 'The problem is, this tragedy would not have occurred if a convicted felon had not touched a firearm.

Does anyone really think the security-guard dad has no accountability in this? With a 19-year-old 4-time felon in the house, is it right to keep the gun in a drawer?

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

3 comments:

  1. "Whitney has four felony burglary convictions."

    Havent you said in the past that nonviolent felons should be able to regain the rights normally lost by such a conviction? You've also questioned the use of deadly force against burglars that break into an occupied home using the logic that they might just be there to steal. So you also seem to suggest that burglary isn't a violent crime.
    I do agree that the father does hold some responsibility in not properly securing his firearm, especially since its only used as part of his job. I can only imagine how often felon son had fooled around with it prior to this supposed accident.

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    1. Are you agreeing with me or not? My ideas about not shooting burglars dead have nothing to do with this, nor do my ideas about non-violent offenders keeping their gun rights. In that case, I was talking about white-collar criminals, not burglars, but the point of this post is about dad and his irresponsible gun security.

      On that we agree. And thanks for also confirming one of my other ideas. When tragic accidents happen with guns, they're usually not the very first time out of the gate. That's why one-strike-you're-out has a place in the scheme of proper gun control laws.

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  2. I have to wonder why a thug with four felonies on his record--and possibly many more crimes committed, what's that term again?--by the age of nineteen is circulating in society. Keep him locked up for longer, and this wouldn't have happened.

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