DaMarion Davis was a daddy's boy, a 2-year-old who cried when his dad would leave for the day, family members said.
"He cried to go to the store with him, cried to get in the car with him," his great-aunt Edna Anderson said.
Otherwise, the child they called "Baby" because he was the youngest of four boys was all smiles.
On Friday, "Baby" died from a gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead, a tragedy family and friends said accidentally happened when the boy found a gun in his West Pullman home.
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Detectives, however, were still investigating the case and questioning a family friend who police say fled the home after the 10 a.m. shooting. Davis' relatives said the gun belonged to that man. Neighbor Dorothy Williams said the man had fallen asleep and the boy found his gun.
Police said they found one 9mm shell casing in the home. Authorities were still searching for the gun late Friday. They poked through bushes and brush and looked on rooftops between the Davis' home in the 11800 block of South Morgan and the auto repair garage where the family friend was arrested 15 minutes after the shooting.
An employee at the garage said the man, carrying a bag of fast food, apparently from the neighboring Wendy's, came in to the shop and asked about getting a transmission fixed. "He was inquiring about a car he didn't have," said the worker, who refused to give his name.
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Not long afterward, an officer with his gun drawn came in, ordered the man out and arrested him, the worker said.
"At this point, it's unclear if it was accidental," police spokeswoman Monique Bond said of the shooting.
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"She said the baby shot himself in the head," Williams said. "The guy whose gun it was had the baby in his arms, and he was bleeding. ... He said, 'Oh, my God, Baby, how could you do this?' Then he was saying, 'I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to kill myself.' "
This is always sad when a child is killed and in such a violent fashion whether someone was doing the shooting or it was an accident.
1 comment:
Gun control is a huge, complex topic I'll leave aside for a moment. So many simple gun safety rules went wrong here.
1. The gun was loaded, when there was apparently no reason for readiness to shoot.
2. Depending on the make, a round was chambered when there was apparently no reason for readiness to shoot.
3. Most likely, the safety was off when there was apparently no reason for readiness to shoot. I say most likely, since it would be unlikely that a child this young could figure out to deactivate the safety. (Yes, it's possible, just unlikely.)
4. The clip was inserted in the gun, when there was apparently no reason for readiness to shoot.
5. Weapon and ammunition were stored together in a home.
6. A gun was left unattended within reach of children.
7. A gun was left unattended without a trigger lock.
8. A gun was left unattended outside a gun safe.
The correct way to store this gun is to put all the ammunition, plus the clips, into one lockbox, and then the gun, secured with a triggerlock, into a separate lockbox. Then nothing "happens."
If you own a gun, please go buy at least one lockbox and a triggerlock.
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