Boy, 4, killed during target practice

TOWER, Minnesota (AP) -- A 4-year-old boy was fatally wounded when he wandered behind a paper target while family and friends were practicing shooting, authorities said.

Evan Davis Klassen, of Chisago City, was shot around 1:45 p.m. Sunday at Lake Vermilion, where a group of about a dozen people had gathered for the Memorial Day weekend.

"They thought they had the kids under control," said Sgt. James McKenzie of the St. Louis County Sheriff's Department.

While the paper target didn't completely obscure the child, he was wearing camouflage pants that made him difficult to see against the foliage, McKenzie said.

A 40-year-old man fired a handgun about 30 feet through the target and into the boy, he said.

McKenzie called the shooting as "a pretty straightforward accident" and said no charges were likely to be filed. The man's name and relationship with the boy were not released. After the shooting, people rushed the boy to a nearby lodge. Emergency medical workers arrived, but there was nothing they could do, McKenzie said.

 

i hate rednecks, i despise guns

 

Whats that got to do with rednecks or guns? Thats just bad parenting. The gun didnt let the kid wander around during dangerous activity.

You can't blame the gun on the accident, its stupid people who need to be blamed.

 

Fla. Teens Accused in Homeless Killing
May 30, 04:38 PM EDT

HOLLY HILL, Fla. (AP) -- Two Florida teenagers found a homeless man in the woods and beat and kicked him to death "to have something to do," according to Volusia County sheriff's investigators.

Christopher Scamahorn, 14, and Jeffery Spurgeon, 18, confessed to beating the 53-year-old victim with their fists and sticks and kicking him, sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said Sunday.

The pair were charged with murder Sunday. Spurgeon was being held without bail in Daytona Beach. Scamahorn taken to a juvenile jail.

The teens said they attacked the man "for fun" and "to have something to do," Haught said. They went back to the woods three times after the initial attack to beat the man again, he said.

The victim was found Saturday, and the condition of the body indicated he had been dead for several days. An autopsy Sunday determined that the man died from blunt force trauma to the head and body, Haught said.

The victim's name has not been released.

"We're trying to find next of kin," Haught said Monday. "He apparently doesn't have any next of kin nearby."

Investigators said there may be more arrests.

 

we loose more kids in florida from lightning hits and swiming pool accidents that this unsual gun accident . who only the parents can be blame for not the guns.

 

i hate little niggers like you.Pool Safety for Kids
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Preventing Child Drownings

In some of the nation's sunbelt, drowning has been the leading cause of accidental death in the home of children under 5 years old. The information below can help parents and caregivers provide young children with the protection they deserve.

Each year, nationwide, more than 300 children under 5 years old drown in residential swimming pools, usually a pool owned by their family. In addition, more than 2,000 children in that age group are treated in hospital emergency rooms for submersion injures.

Medical costs for submersion victims during the initial hospitalization alone can be quite high. Costs can range from an estimated $2,000 for a victim who recovers fully to $80,000 for a victim with severe brain damage. Some severely brain damaged victims have initial hospital stays in excess of 120 days and expenses in excess of $150,000.

Many communities have enacted safety regulations governing residential swimming pools -- inground and aboveground. It's up to parents to comply with these regulations. Apart from these laws, parents who own pools, can take their own precautions to reduce the chances of their youngsters accessing the family pool or spa without adult supervision.

Facts and Figures

Following are just a few facts uncovered by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in a comprehensive study of drowning and submersion incidents involving children under 5 years old in Arizona, California, and Florida.

• Seventy-five percent of the submersion victims studied by CPSC were between I and 3 years old; 65 percent of this group were boys. Toddlers, in particular, often do something unexpected because their capabilities change daily.
• At the time of the incidents, most victims were being supervised by one or both parents. Forty-six percent of the victims were last seen in the house; 23 percent were last seen in the yard or on the porch or patio; and 31 percent were in or around the pool before the accident. In all, 69 percent of the children were not expected to be at or in the pool, yet they were found in the water.
• Submersion incidents involving children usually happen in familiar surroundings. Sixty-five percent of the incidents happened in a pool owned by the child's family and 33 percent o the incidents happened in a pool owned by friends or relatives.
• Pool submersions involving children happen quickly. A child can drown in the time it takes to answer a phone. Seventy-seven percent of the victims had been missing from sight for 5 minutes or less.
• Survival depends on rescuing the child quickly and restarting the breathing process, even while the child is still in the water. Seconds count in preventing death or brain damage.
• Child drowning is a silent death. There's no splashing to alert anyone that the child is in trouble.

Barriers

The following barrier recommendations are the result of identifying key parameters that typically contribute to child drowning in backyard pools. These recommendations are the minimum steps you can take to make your home a safe place for your child.

Barriers are not childproof, but they provide layers of protection for a child who strays from supervision. Barriers give parents additional time to locate a child before the unexpected becomes a reality.

Barriers include a fence or wall, door alarms for the house, and a power safety cover over the pool. Barriers also may be used to protect children from accessing hot tubs and spas. Use the following recommendations as a guide:

Fences and Gates

<LI>Install a fence or other barrier, such as a wall, completely around the pool. If the house is part of the barrier, the doors leading from the house to the pool should be protected with an alarm or the pool should have a power safety cover. Alarm and cover details are below.

<LI>The fence or other barrier should be at least 4 feet high. It should have no foot- or handholds that could help a young child to climb it.

<LI>Vertical fence slats should be less than 4 inches apart to prevent a child from squeezing through.

Use this as a guide when the release mechanism is located less than 54 inches from the bottom of the gate.

• If horizontal members are equal to or more than 45 inches apart, vertical spacing shall not exceed 4 inches.
• If the fence is chain link, then no part of the diamond-shaped opening should be larger than 1-3/4 inches.
• Fence gates should be self-closing and self-latching. The gate should be well maintained to close and latch easily. The latch should be out of a child's reach.
• When the release mechanism of the self-latching device is less than 54 inches from the bottom of the gate, the release mechanism for the gate should be at least 3 inches below the top of the gate on the side facing the pool. Placing the release mechanism at this height prevents a young child from reaching over the top of a gate and releasing the latch. Also, the gate and barrier should have no opening greater than 1/2 inch within 18 inches of the latch release mechanism. This prevents a young child from reaching through the gate and releasing the latch.

There are a wide variety of fencing construction materials available to compliment your house and pool surroundings. Your local fence company or pool enclosure company can provide you with information and assist you in making a selection.

The weak link in the strongest and highest fence is a gate that fails to close and latch completely. For a gate to close completely every time, it must be in proper working order.

Door Alarms

<LI>If the house forms one side of the barrier, then doors leading from the house to the pool should be protected with alarms that produce an audible sound when a door is unexpectedly opened.

<LI>Install an alarm that can be temporarily turned off by an adult for a single opening of the door by using a keypad or switch that is out of a child's reach.

Battery and electrically powered alarms are available. The key pad switch can be used by adults who wish to pass through the door without setting off the alarm. It should be placed high on all doors leading from the house to the pool. Affordable and easily installed alarms are available. An alarm signal immediately tells a parent that a door has been opened.

• 
  Power Safety Covers
  
• Power safety covers over the pool may be used as an alternative to door alarms. A power safety cover should meet the requirements of the ASTM pool cover standard which addresses labeling requirements and performance. ASTM requires that a cover withstand the weight of two adults and a child to allow a rescue should an individual fall onto the cover. The standard also requires quick removal of water from the cover. A young child can drown in just inches of water.

A power safety cover is a motor powered barrier that can be placed over the water area. Motor-driven covers easily open and close over the pool. When the power safety cover is properly in place over the pool, it provides a high level of safety for children under 5 years old by inhibiting their access to the water.

Above-Ground Pools

• Steps and ladders leading from the ground to the pool should be secured and locked, or removed when the pool is not in use.

Rules for Pools

• Instruct babysitters about potential pool hazards to young children and about the use of protective devices, such as door alarms and latches. Emphasize the need for constant supervision.

• Never leave a child unsupervised near a pool. During social gatherings at or near a pool, appoint a "designated watcher" to protect young children from pool accidents. Adults may take turns being the "watcher." When adults become preoccupied, children are at risk.
• If a child is missing, check the pool first. Seconds count in preventing death or disability. Go to the edge of the pool and scan the entire pool, bottom and surface, as well as the pool area.
• Do not allow a young child in the pool without an adult.
• Do not consider young children to be drownproof because they have had swimming lessons. Children must be watched closely while swimming.
• Do not use flotation devices as a substitute for supervision.
• Learn CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Babysitters and other caretakers, such as grandparents and older siblings, should also know CPR.
• Keep rescue equipment by the pool. Be sure a telephone is poolside with emergency numbers posted nearby.
• Remove toys from in and around the pool when it is not in use. Toys can attract young children to the pool.
• Never prop open the gate to a pool barrier.

 

Florida has been getting crazier lately. Ever since they elected Bush. children being taken and killed. now this. these teens are freaking crazy and deserve to never see the light of day again.

 

Thats funny since all the bizare killing is mostly up in your state and not florida.

 

I hate Nazis.....especially ones that look like militant homosexuals

 

Such is life...

 

I guess I wandered in too late since it seems to have gotten way off topic.

I agree with heron, bad parenting. Same thing with the pool drownings.If you have such an obvious hazzard like that in your yard or nearby, as a parent you can safeguard against it.

 

but some of this idiots rather ban guns and swiming pools , cars,trucks, etc etc etc.

 

Thats the best part of america you can hate anyone you want. So Far.

 

haha ... now you mention it, the nice gentleman in spliffvortex's signature picture does look a little queer

 

AND whats wrong with that?

 

you know the man resposible for uniting the german army after ww1 was a open homosexual "Ernst Rohm" who Hitler with out would had gotten not far.

 

I didn't suggest anything was wrong with it! Hey, Nazis are people too, we all need to be loved...

 

your such a good diplomat . reminds me of your prime minister in ww2.

 

I agree..

It was not at the back of some trailer park, sorry a no better stereotypical comment than the 'redneck' one.

I am glad you said 'queer' not that other unmentionable word.

 

Winston Churchill? How did you know I'm a tubby old man with a cigar who likes firebombing German cities?