Florida resident Justin Holt was tragically shot and killed on Monday while he and his girlfriend were playing with their friend’s handgun. Holt and his friends were dry-firing the gun at each other for fun earlier in the day. After the friends were done playing with the gun, the gun’s owner loaded the weapon and set it on a table.
Holt’s girlfriend Erin Steele never saw the gun’s owner reload the weapon. About two hours later, she picked the gun up, pointed it at Holt, and fired. Instead of the hearing the quiet click of a dry-fire, she saw her boyfriend fall to the ground in pain. She’d shot him in the chest.
Friends called 911 immediately for help.
“Please help me, ma'am!” a man is heard saying on the 911 call. “There was an accident; there was a very bad accident. Someone picked up my firearm by mistake, ma'am, and someone got shot. Please, please come.”
Boca Raton police interviewed all witnesses of the shooting. Everyone present gave the same account of events and confirmed that the shooting was absolutely an accident. Holt’s family spoke to the media and said they want no charges pressed against Steele.
“We have a lot of compassion for her because she's got to live with that, no matter what she does, for the rest of her life,” Holt's grandfather, 82-year-old Michael DiFiore, told the Sun Sentinel.
Holt’s mother says the two were very much in love, and that a tragedy like this is punishment enough for Steele.
As heartbreaking as Holt’s death is, he is far from the first person to be killed in an accidental shooting even this year. According to Policy Mic, accidental shootings killed 851 Americans in 2012.
This is the other kind of accidental shooting. The most popular method for the bumbling idiots who do these things is the old "forgetting there's a round in the chamber." But a close second is this one in which the reckless gun owner purposely shoots at someone thinking the gun is unloaded.
I find the appeals of the family members quite persuasive. I wouldn't want this woman to serve time in jail. But, I certainly wouldn't want her owning and using guns in the future, would you?
Actually, it looks more like the owner neglecting to secure his firearm. Ultimately the woman's fault, but his gun.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm getting too old and ornery, but everyone sitting around and dry firing at each other? WTF!!!!!?????
Yes, indeed, I almost forgot about the owner of the gun. What should happen to him, in your lenient pro-gun opinion?
DeleteMy reaction entirely. WTF??
DeleteI'm fairly sure that when I was young, "dry-firing" at each other for fun simply did not exist. If somebody was silly enough to point a gun at another person, let alone actually pull the trigger solo en chiste, they would have received a severe reprimand from even the most drunken sailor at the party. What would be funny about kidding around about killing your paramour? Don't get it.
ReplyDeleteNo, if you point a gun at someone and pull the trigger without justification, you deserve to go to prison for what you should have expected would happen.
ReplyDeleteGreg, are you saying that just to disagree with me? It sounds incredibly harsh. They were fooling around, after all.
DeleteAnd if you'd put the girl in jail, what would you do with the owner of the gun? Does he have no responsibility in this?
Um, the owner in this case is dead, but no, he didn't pull the trigger. But if you point a gun at someone, you'd better have a good reason for doing so or expect the consequences when something goes very wrong. This was an intentional act, not an accident, and it was exceedingly stupid.
DeleteOne only wonders why the site liar doesn't point that out in the hundreds of other similar incidents that get posted on this site.
DeleteI had to read it a couple times, but I think the owner is alive. It is a pretty confusing paragraph since it uses friend to identify the owner, and then friends to cover everyone.
DeleteHere is a better version,
"The couple had taken turns "dry firing" a new, unloaded gun their friend had purchased while the couple and two other pals hung out at a Boca Raton, Fla. home on Sunday.
Later, police said, the gun's owner, Joshua Henry, loaded the weapon and set it down.
Not knowing it was loaded, Steele picked up the .9mm handgun and fired it at Holt, shooting him in the chest."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/justin-holt-killed-by-girlfriend_n_4398832.html
I didn't think it was too confusing. The friend's gun was used by the stupid couple to make believe they were shooting each other. Then the friend loaded it and sometime later the woman decided to play some more.
DeleteSo, Greg and ss, what would the appropriate punishment be for the owner of the gun?
O.K., you're correct, the gun's owner isn't Holt. The owner also isn't the one who pulled the trigger. The person who did, Steele, should spend a long time in prison. Since the gun's owner didn't kill Holt, despite having played a stupid game with him, that matter is closed.
DeleteWas that an answer, Greg? Are you saying the owner of the gun has zero culpability in what happened?
DeleteDid the owner put the gun into the woman's hand? Did he force her to pull the trigger?
DeleteWhy can't you give a straight fucking answer. Are you saying zero culpability, I ask again?
DeleteAsked and answered. Read my answer.
DeleteTypical cowardly non response from the site criminal liar.
DeleteAny owner who allows other people access to his gun, is negligent. No one should have been allowed to "dry fire" his gun. Then (after knowing people were "dry firing" his gun) he loaded it and left it out. The owner is responsible for this/his death.
ReplyDeleteThis shows the lack of public awareness of how to treat guns. Isn't that part of the NRA's mission? It used to be.