New Jersey Dad Arrested for Accidentally Shooting 2-Year-old Son

SF Gate

Aggravated assault charges have been filed against a southern New Jersey man who told authorities that he accidentally shot his 2-year-old son while they and other family members were in a vehicle.

Camden County Police say 38-year-old Sergio Rivera of Camden was also charged with child endangerment, drug possession and weapons offenses.

Authorities learned of the shooting late Tuesday, when they were called to the hospital where the boy was being treated for left arm and left leg wounds. But they say Rivera did not cooperate with detectives when they questioned him about the shooting.

North Carolina Dad Charged in 2-Year-old's Death

Local news reports further to our original post at the time of the tragedy.

The father of a 2-year-old girl who died after accidentally shooting herself after finding a loaded handgun hid the weapon from police investigators, according to an arrest warrant.

Melvin Andre Clark, 19, of the 2600 block of Graham Road, was charged Monday with resisting a public officer and failing to store a firearm to protect a minor.

Both charges are misdemeanors.

Clark was charged Oct. 20 with involuntary manslaughter and possession of firearm by a felon.

Clark's daughter, Samarri Tyana Beauford, died Oct. 19 after a single gunshot struck her in the head, Fayetteville police said.

The toddler was playing when she found the loaded .22-caliber semi-automatic Beretta pistol under a couch, police said.

Clark attempted to impede Detective Ronnie Hutchins' investigation by taking the pistol and hiding it behind a home on the 6500 block of Amanda Circle, according to arrest documents.

How Do Criminals Get Guns?

The Four Major Ways Criminals Get Guns

Everyone agrees criminals should not have guns. Yet, the reality seems to be that they have practically unlimited access to them. It would be better for everyone if somehow we could deny them access. But how?

First we need to identify the ways in which they currently do come into possession of weapons. We'll eliminate one common fallacy right away, that criminals get guns from other criminals.  This may be true as far as it goes, but it doesn't help us in our analysis.  We're interested in the original source of guns that are used in crime. If, for example, a gun is stolen during a burglary and passed from criminal to criminal before being used in a murder, that gun came from "Theft," which is one of our main categories.

The entire exercise is based on the presumption that nearly all guns start out as the lawful property of someone. The exceptions to this, home-made weapons and those imported from overseas, are insignificant in number.  Our interest is the exact point at which a gun passes from lawful ownership into criminal hands.

The four categories are these.

1. Straw purchases. Gun traffickers recruit people with clean records who, depending on the state in which they live, can buy numerous guns and turn them over immediately to their criminal bosses. Other straw purchasers are of the amateur kind, the one-off kind, but regardless of the type there is a solution.

2. Theft. Most of this is done in private homes one gun at a time, or if the thieves are lucky several guns. For this there is an obvious solution. Other theft is done at military armories, gun manufacturers and gun shops, all of which require some failure on the part of the lawful custodian of the weapons.

3. Private sales. This is the one often referred to as the "gun show loophole." The reality is that private sales of guns account for about 40% of all gun sales and do not require a background check.  The solution.


4. Lawful gun owners who turn bad. Many of these guys are what I call "hidden criminals."  These are the ones who engage in unlawful activity but have never sustained a disqualifying felony.  They buy and own guns legally just like your truly lawful gun owners.  Others are upstanding members of society right up until the point they lose it and either kill the wife with a gun or shoot up the work place.  We read about them every day. Some of them could be identified through drug testing, others by improved mental health background checks.

The four categories are listed in descending order, the most easily addressed to the most difficult. Straw purchasing could be practically eradicated with the solution I've outlined, while lawful gun owners who turn bad is much harder to address.

But, although gun-rights folks keep saying we have onerous gun control laws which infringe upon their rights, the truth is we have done very little to curtail the terrible problem of gun flow from the good guys to the bad guys.

This must change.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.