Kansas City 4-Year-old Shot - No One Charged

Local news reports

Kansas City police are investigating how a 4-year-old girl was shot and critically wounded Thursday, apparently in an accident.

Police said the woman had left four children alone in a room. She heard a gunshot, ran back into the room and saw the girl had suffered a gunshot wound in her head. Police believe the girl found the gun sitting on a chair and fired it.

An investigator said the ages of the children inside the home were between 4 and 6.  A neighbor said she was the grandmother. 

Investigators were trying to determine who left the gun on the chair and how long it had been there.

Granny should be in the hoosegow. If someone else owned the gun, they should join her.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

More on the Kansas City Stadium Shooting

The Kansas City Star has a follow up in the story we posted last week in which I rightly guessed that it was domestic violence.

Kansas City police identified a 40-year-old man who shot a former girlfriend at Kauffman Stadium on Friday before killing himself as Marcus L. Collins of Raytown. 

Collins drove into the stadium’s Parking Lot A about 3:20 p.m. Friday and apparently summoned the woman, who was riding a golf cart, to his car. When she approached on foot, he shot at her several times and she tried to run, police said. She was struck at least once in the abdomen.

Collins, who never got out of his car, then shot himself.

Police said Collins had known the woman about 20 years and they recently had begun dating. 

Police said the two apparently had a falling-out and had not been speaking lately. They did not have any history of domestic violence, and Friday’s shootings shocked relatives on both sides.

You don't suppose anyone would say that domestic violence must take place in the home, do you? We have some pretty argumentative commenters around here, but I think even they can admit this was a case of domestic violence.

Will they also agree that guns are bad news for women?  That's the real question.

You see, where there are more guns, more women are killed in domestic violence incidents, and not by a little.  The numbers are shocking when we compare high-gun states with low-gun states. 

It's just like the difference between intentional homicide in the UK compared to the US.  Fewer guns, the murders are 4 times less.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

Precious Doe Killer, Harrell Johnson, Convicted

Harrell Johnson was convicted of First Degree Murder in the death of the 3-year old daughter of his wife known as Precious Doe. CNN reports that in exchange for agreeing to allow the trial to take place in Kansas City, the prosecution asked for Life in Prison without the possibility of parole rather than the death penalty.

During closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors a guilty verdict would finally bring justice in a case that brought an outpouring of public grief after a police officer found Erica's naked, headless body in a wooded area of Kansas City in April 2001.

Do you think the guilty verdict will really bring justice to this case? Would the death penalty have accomplished that if they'd sought it?

While high on drugs, according to the mother of the victim, Johnson kicked the little girl. The couple decided not to seek help because they had outstanding warrants and were afraid of being arrested. Michelle Johnson, 33, testified against her husband Tuesday after she pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder in Erica's death.

A pediatric neurosurgeon testified Monday that if the couple had quickly sought medical attention for Erica, doctors probably could have reversed the damage.

On the Rush of Time blog, Jim takes issue with the prosecutor.

On the Pearl's Window site, there's a heartbreaking picture of the little girl, but no opinions that I could see.

What's your opinion? Does the fact that he was high on drugs mitigate the gravity at all? What about that exchange? Is it right for the prosecutor to trade the death penalty for an agreement to keep the case in his own jurisdiction? And, what do you think about the mother? Isn't it a bit severe to charge her with murder when she just failed to get medical help out of fear?