Father shoots 9-month-old daughter by mistake

But isn't this an "only in America" kind of thing?

The 54-year-old, member of a shooting club (sounds more harmless in German, Schützenverein), was dismantling his new toy, a sports rifle, on the terrace to see what it is made of and inserted a cartridge into the chamber. His young daughter was sitting next to him in a high chair. When he cleaned up the weapon the shot fired, hitting her in the stomach. Paramedics could not save her.

As much as I feel for this man and his family - how irresponsible can you get? You are fiddling with a loaded weapon whose exact mechanics you do not know yet in the presence of another person, in this case your child. You insert a live cartridge and do not remove it before reassembling the weapon. Darwin should have smitten you, not her.

Having a daughter of similar age, I am lost for words.

He must feel horrible, but think how emotionally wrecked the mom must be!

How did the gun end up pointing at the baby? He either shot the kid on purpose or he is incredibly stupid.

I literally feel sick... what a complete idiot...

Those parents must be devastated... The father must be cursing himself.. This will haunt him throughout his life...

Isn't he too old to have a 9-month-old kid?.. I feel sorry for the mother..

Typical German attitude: don't look where he's going, stop smack in the middle of the gleis to pick his teeth for example, while a crowd coming out of the same train is trying to move away from the train etc. So, of course wouldn't care less where he's pointing the loaded rifle. No sympathy from me this one!

Not even for the girl or the mother?

He's only 54, you make him sound like he's got one foot in the grave. He may be stupid, but that doesn't mean he can't procreate. Contrary to popular belief, people do still have sex once they get past 40!

This case just reinforces my belief that nobody should be allowed to own a gun, they are completely unnecessary.

Like others, I really really feel for the mother.

I know how angry I get when my daughter is with her father and due to some stupid, thoughtless idea on his part, she gets slightly hurt. He feels worse about it and for longer than my daughter even remembers the incident, but I would be just furious if she were ever seriously injured or, God forbid, killed. I know mr cinzia would feel the same way if it were me who thoughtlessly caused an injury.

Can he be charged with "accidental homicide," as he would be in the States?

Yes he could, it's called "Fahrlässige Tötung", accidental manslaughter.

After this there should be a law against stupidity.

No earthly judge can give a worse punishment than what he's already got.
1) killed his child
2) incurable stupidity
But yes, I feel sorry for him. He may as well kill himself now. Or maybe his wife will.

My grandfather said "always deal with a firearm as if it is loaded and never point it at anything unless you are prepared to destroy it."

The fact that this lesson was imparted after catching one of my cousins pointing a rifle at another cousin (we had loads of cousins around the place but probably could not afford to have one shot) gave it a certain weight.

This is a sad sad story.

I was always told the exact same thing.

My grandmother had a Luger (?) in her bedside table and my brother, cousins, the neighbor and I found it one day, when we realized she had it set to go, at least we all knew how to handle the weapon and the dangers of it, and when scott the neighbor kid saw the bullet we all ducked behind him as he pointed it out the window and away while he tried to get it out of the chamber without firing it.

None of us had a Schutzenschein.

This is getting worse: He was alone when he dismantled the rifle, then his wife (31) came out onto the terrace and set the baby into her high-chair, sitting down at the table herself as well. So she saw it happen. The weapon was only halfways reassembled when he cleared it away. The DA is saying that this is manslaughter by negligence but there may not be a trial as the consequences of his crime are so severe. The girl was their only child.

The head of the Bavarian Gun Club (Schützenbund) says that this guy broke just about every safety rule in the book: Never load your rifle anywhere else than at the shooting range, never at home, especially not on the terrace (or anywhere outside), and never in the presence of others.

How terrible. I wonder if their marriage will survive it.

I'm sure the man said, "Selbst Schuld!"

Blame the wife. She brought the baby into the target area.

It seems this is the week for tragedies in MUC...yesterday a woman in Erding ran over her 2yr old child while reversing out of garage/drive. Must be the most terrible feeling ever to know you killed your child.

For f*'s f*ing sake! She set her down - her fault. He messed around with the rifle - his fault. So f*ing what, she's dead!

wow, sara. you're all heart.

coming from the father of a 4-year old girl and a chubby 7-month old boy, i'll be shocked if this guy doesn't end up killing himself or being committed to a padded room for the rest of his life. the mental punishment he's most likely putting himself through almost negates the need for a trial. almost.

-john

Well it looks like his genes will not be passed to a new generation so I think Darwin was right.
I feel sick just from reading about such a horror story.
But then again there is also Irak, Afganistan, Darfour and others... which give me the same feeling...

I believe you started the "blame game" in your initial post..so why are you angry at another theory??? It is obvious she is dead. When you started the blame game you opened the door. Don't get snippy if someone walks through it. It's Friday...did you change your pflaster today???

My OP was based on the info then available. This whole thing is unbearable to think of, shuffling blame back and forth callous. Both of them were negligent and their baby is dead. Guns kill people, that's the bottom line.

accident (punkt)
poor people (punkt)
bottomfeeders talk of trials (punkt)

thinking about it further, i believe a trial would be pointless anyway. firstly, there's nothing the german judicial system can do to him that'll match what he's done to himself. secondly, if trial procedures are the same in germany as in the US, there's no way this guy would be found mentally competent to stand trial. if he has a conscience, anyway.

I cannot see this coming to trial.

Not to be heartless, but I don't see why he shouldn't have a trial. When someone is killed, there should be a trial. If the judge decides on a light or no sentence due to the degree of suffering the man might be feeling, then that's an option. But not even a trial!

Some Europeans like to gripe about how many people are injured or killed by guns in the US, but at least we can say that if you injure or kill someone with a gun in America, your sentence is likely to be much harsher than what you get in Germany for the same crime.

Cute attitude, zimmer - why not use this tragedy as an excuse for some German-bashing.