An 11-year-old boy will be tried as an adult in court for killing his father's pregnant girlfriend. Jordan Brown used his own shotgun to kill her. He had his own gun at 11-years-old because his father was training him to be a hunter. The boy got on the school bus after the shooting and got picked up several hours later. He is in the county jail, away from adults inmates. Dennis Elisco, the boy's attorney, hopes the school will sent him assignments while he's in jail.
"It looks awful from the outside and sort of unspeakable, but these are the kinds of feelings that are pretty normal in a new stepfamily. You just hope there's not a loaded gun around," said Patricia Papernow, a psychologist from Hudson, Mass., who heard about the case on the national news.
This is the first time I'd heard of this story, and it quite saddens me. It makes me wonder how a child could get those kind of feelings. Is it because of violence on T.V.? In schools? On the news? It also makes me wonder how much of the feelings dealt with the blending of two families. It also makes me wonder if the woman he killed was threatening the boy, or making him feel like he wasn't going to be part of their new family.
This makes me think the family could've done more with gun safety. Shouldn't the gun have been locked up? Here is a link to an article about gun safety in homes. "Although the debate over gun control and gun rights seems intractable, all sides generally agree that firearms in the home should be stored in a manner that keeps them out of children's hands. However, many firearms are dangerously accessible."
What do you think of firearm safety? Do you think parents need to be more cautious? Do you think 11-year-old should even have access to guns?
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Wow that's crazy! I have never heard of this before! It really makes you wonder what is going on in this child's head. Like, where did he learn it? Television? Cartoons? Movies? And there never should have been a loaded gun in the house anyways. And, if it was needed in the house then it should have been locked in a gun safe, that only the father had a key or combination to. And, he should be tried as an adult! When you are 11 you should know better! It also makes you wonder what kind of home life this kid has, how his dad treats him, and how the woman treated him. They need to get in his head to see what was going on.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh this is a crazy story. I also am unsure how I feel about the ruling. If you are 11 years old you are in 5th or 6th grade. You obviously know the difference between right and wrong, and you totally know that murder is wrong. But 18 is the supposed age of children bein tried as adults, and 11 is considerably younger than 18.
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad. It is sad that a child shot and kiled his fathers pregnant girlfriend, and it is sad that he did it with his own gun! Aren't there laws about that? I took hunter safety when I was younger, but I had to be 14, and I know I didn't own my own gun then (still don't).
Good choice of story!
How uncomfortable to hear about an 11 year old killing the dads gf? It's totally shocking in every bit. Training to be a hunter at the age of 11? I think this is too early. I understand hunting is a really big deal for people when the season approaches but are you kidding me an eleven year old! Gun safety is a huge issue for me. My husband brings a gun home every night plus we have a spare in the house. Nevertheless they still scare me. I told him we are buying a safe within a safe!
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that guns don’t kill people, people kill people and it’s obvious that the family and boy had some issues. Say the gun was locked up, does that mean the kid would have not killed his dad’s girlfriend or would he just found something else? This is a very tragic happening and you hate to hear news like this cause it’s sickening. It makes people wonder what’s going through their head to do something that drastic and at such a young age. I know it makes me mad and it makes you think, couldn’t there be a way to have prevented this.
ReplyDeleteThat is ridiculous! An 11-year-old should not be tried as an adult under any circumstance. For one, they are not an adult!
ReplyDeleteI understand that this kid had very angry feelings toward his father's girlfriend, and I cannot understand how this boy thought murder would be okay, but still: He is a child. Children cannot be held as accountable for their actions.
In the long run, this topic is very hard to write on because it is very two-sided, with very little gray area in between. The child committed a murder, and no one can really understand what this woman was doing to make him feel this way, but on the other hand, he is eleven. If his father gave him the gun, should not the father then be held responsible. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
Wow, this is tough. It's horrible that an 11-year-old would even consider committing an act like this. Obviously, he ultimately made the decision, but I think there had to be other contributing factors. For a scenario like this to occur, his upbringing was probably not very positive. Society plays a role in this as well with the way we treat the sanctity of human life. Video games, movies, and music all treat murder and death as an unimportant, temporary thing which eventually desensitizes people to it. I wouldn't have a problem with him being tried as an adult because of the seriousness of what he did. However, I can see the other side of the argument considering how young he is.
ReplyDeleteHeidi,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, wow! I definitely think that an 11-year-old is too young to have a gun. Secondly, the comment, "It looks awful from the outside and sort of unspeakable, but these are the kinds of feelings that are pretty normal in a new stepfamily. You just hope there's not a loaded gun around," said by Patricia Papernow is ridiculous. I sure as hell hope that these kinds of feelings aren’t normal. That comment makes her sound like she feels this situation is so typical and routine. I’m on the fence about him being tried as an adult. He committed a very serious crime, but is very young. However, this child is obviously very troubled and who’s to say that he won’t do it again if he gets let off easy.