Illinois Gun Violence Tragedy

This was so tragic, so unnecessary, so avoidable.  We should do a better job of ensuring that someone like this is never allowed access to weapons, any weapons, ever again.
From HuffPo:
Miguel Hernandez, Elgin Gang Member, Charged In Murder Of 5-Year-Old Boy (VIDEO)
First Posted: 10/15/11 02:10 PM ET Updated: 10/15/11 02:13 PM ET

Miguel Hernandez Jr. has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 5-year-old Elgin boy Eric Galarza Jr. The shooting is believed by authorities to be gang-related.

An Elgin man police say is a known gang member has been charged and ordered held without bail in the shooting death of 5-year-old Eric Galarza Jr. Miguel Hernandez Jr. was charged Friday with first-degree murder after he allegedly shot Galarza Jr. on Oct. 7. Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said in a statement, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, that the investigation into the shooting was greatly helped by the northwest suburban village's community."The Elgin community provided multiple leads that helped lead to this arrest," Swoboda said. "Within one week, Elgin's gang unit has been able to arrest and charge the man responsible for this tragic incident."
Galarza Jr. was shot in the head while sitting in the back seat of his family's car as it backed out of the driveway of his family's Elgin home, located in the 900 block of Elma Avenue, at 7 p.m. that day. His mother, father, aunt and two siblings were also in the car at the time of the shooting, though no one was else was injured in the incident.
While the police investigation into the shooting is ongoing, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that revenge for a prior shooting may have been the motive for the murder. Police believe another person in the car was specifically targeted.
As the Daily Herald reports, Galarza's father, Eric, has a criminal history dating back over a decade, to 2000, when he was sentenced to nine years in jail after he plead guilty to aggravated discharge of a firearm. He has done jail time on two other charges since then and is expected in court on Nov. 3 on a pending charge of aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
Hernandez is slated to appear in court on the charge of murdering Galarza Jr. in Rolling Meadows that same day.
Wednesday, over 200 mourners packed Elgin's St. Joseph Catholic Church for Galarza Jr.'s funeral. As TribLocal reports, Father Adalberto Sanchez told the standing-room only crowd at the memorial, "Sometimes we act without thinking and the consequences of our actions are this, the death of an innocent."
Elgin Police have asked anyone with additional information on the shooting to come forward via the department's anonymous tip line at (847) 695-4195. Tips may also be shared on the department's website.

Another Regrettable Fatality

In view of our recent discussions about homicides and suicides relating to the large numbers of guns in private possession, this story struck me as interesting on two counts.  The first was that this was another instance of firearm caused suicide (apparently); but also it was notable for the use by law enforcement of non-lethal rounds to try to resolve this crisis, the 'bean bag' rounds.  The report did not indicate if the firearm used by the elderly man was legally or illegally obtained, but there is nothing in the report to suggest it was not a legal firearm.  This would be another instance where someone who appears to legally possess a firearm presents a danger not only to himself, and his family members, but to the larger community.  I cannot find any 'upside' to this firearm possession that benfited anyone.

I feel badly for the neighbors, the family and the police officers.

Want to take bets this guy was a 2nd Amendment proponent rather than an advocate for gun control?

From MSNBC.com, Crime and Courts:

Death in Garden Grove shooting was officer-involved

A 76-year-old man died in the back yard of his Garden Grove home, police said.

MORE PHOTOS »

Members of the Orange County Sheriff Department coroner's transportation team remove a body from a home in the 6000 block of Killarney Avenue, Garden Grove, after a fatal shooting Friday morning.

BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

By DENISSE SALAZAR / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

GARDEN GROVE – A 76-year-old man died during an officer-involved shooting in the back yard of his west Garden Grove home Friday morning, police said.
Officers shortly after 7:35 a.m. responded to a single-family home in the 6000 block of Killarney Avenue near Valley View Street and Lampson Avenue after family members called 911 to report he was threatening to kill himself with a handgun because “he was desponded over medical problems,” Garden Grove police Lt. Robert Fowler said.

Officers found the man, whose name has not been released, in the back yard of his home armed with a handgun, Fowler said.
Officers tried to talk to the man as police negotiators were on the way, Fowler said, but the victim pointed the handgun at officers and a shooting ensued.
Fowler said the man appears to have suffered impacts from less lethal weapons, as well as a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
“At this time it appears he was only struck by the beanbag rounds and at some point he shot himself in the head,” Fowler said.
Fowler said family members were not in the back yard when the shooting happened.
Investigators from the coroner’s office about 8:30 a.m. responded to the home. An autopsy will be performed Monday to determine a cause of death, said Supervising Deputy Coroner Larry Esslinger.
Neighbors reported hearing shots followed by sirens, leaving them wondering what was happening.
Dottie Millspaugh, who lives four doors east of the incident, said she was providing daycare for 10 toddlers when a parent dropping off a child told her to stay inside.
Millspaugh said she looked outside and saw police officers running down the street with guns. They told her to get back inside where she stayed for two hours.
The Orange County District Attorney's Office is investigating the incident, as is typical in officer-involved shootings that result in injury or death.

Unacceptable Firearm Violence in Ohio

From MSNBC and AP:
Police: 8 shot to death in Ohio, including child

Family argument ends in shooting deaths in two locations; two wounded

COPLEY, Ohio — A family argument Sunday in Ohio ended in the shooting deaths of eight people in two places, including an 11-year-old, and two more people were wounded, authorities said Sunday.
One person shot five people to death in one location, then two more were killed nearby before police killed the gunman, police Chief Michael Mier told WKYC-TV.
The shootings happened in a wooded, residential neighborhood of older homes outside Akron, and police shot the gunman to death, Copley Township officers said. The neighborhood remained blocked off by police Sunday afternoon.
Jeff Kirby of nearby Norton said he was visiting his mother's home a block from the shootings around 10:30 a.m. when he heard gunfire — about 15 shots with several pauses between them.
Kirby, 53, said the last gunfire he heard occurred about the same time he heard sirens in the neighborhood.
Copley police Sgt. Eric Goodwin said he did not know the conditions of the wounded but said he believed there were no more victims.
"As far as I know, everyone's accounted for," he said.
He gave no more details, including how the shooter and victims were related, their names or what led to the argument.
"That's still under investigation," he said.
Copley Township is a town of about 14,000 people outside Akron, about 40 miles south of Cleveland in northeast Ohio.