Police: 10-year-old boy shot girl, 7, visiting home

Published Thursday, May 21, 2009 | 10:08 a.m.

Updated Thursday, May 21, 2009 | 3:31 p.m.

Shooting location

North Las Vegas Police are investigating a shooting by a young boy that injured a 7-year-old girl.

The girl is in critical condition at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

Police said a 10-year-old boy shot the girl in a North Las Vegas residence with a handgun. The shooting occurred in the 500 block of Blackbird Knoll near Centennial Parkway and Revere Street about 8:28 a.m. Thursday, police spokeswoman Chrissie Coon said.

The girl was visiting the residence where the shooting occurred and was taken to the hospital by her mother, police said.

Other juveniles who were in the home at the time of the shooting are being questioned by police, Coon said.

"We're really stressing gun safety at this point," Coon said.

Police are talking to several children who were at the home at the time of the shooting to determine how the juveniles got the gun, Coon said.

"We are not calling them suspects," Coon said.

Discussion: 21 comments so far…

By neiman1

5/21/09 at 11:06 a.m.

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Should we believe this police report or do we have to wait for independent investigations to confirm it?
By LasVegas2009

5/21/09 at 11:52 a.m.

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Best not to believe anything Metro has in a report from now on.
By goingbust

5/21/09 at 12:36 p.m.

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The guy who shot her is almost 100% likely a person who has already been in trouble with the law.

Here is my way of dealing with these problems:

1. Do a felony, get a life sentence. Robbery, Ag assault, Assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, rape, murder, etc = life sentence.

2. Of course we can't keep people locked up for life on ag assaults. So this is what is done. They get parole. But only if they agree to wear an ankle bracelet that records audio and video of them all the time and agree to be searched at any time by any law enforcement person. All cops get felon finders and any citizen that wants one can get one too. They don't agree to wear it, they don't get parole.

3. These people get searched often and hard. The video gets downloaded and anyone can view it. They remove the tracker, do any other crime or ever get caught with guns or drugs or associating with other felons, they don't even get a new trial, their parole is revoked, they go back to state prison that day.

This would cut down on recidivism and crime in general, I guarantee it.
By sweetwinner

5/21/09 at 2:02 p.m.

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Like I said before, "Hand guns are no good."
More problems than their worth.
By goingbust

5/21/09 at 2:39 p.m.

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Who said it was a handgun? Maybe it was an evil black assault rifle. Who knows. They didn't say.
By KillerB

5/21/09 at 3:02 p.m.

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sweetwinner -- until you need one, then they're worth more than their weight in gold.

And I'm with goingbust -- what makes you think a handgun was involved?
By AngryReader

5/21/09 at 4:14 p.m.

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GoingBust in the brain dept,

A ten year old kid is probably already been in trouble with the law? For what? Stealing bubble gum or toilet papering houses?

You want to charge the 10 year old with a felony?

I hope you are being sarcastic because if you are not, anyone reading your idiocy will automatically drop 20 IQ points.

KillerB are you nuts too?

The person who needs to face justice is the nutjob who allowed their handgun to fall into the possession of children.

It is totally idiots like that fool who failed to secure his weapon that are the greatest threat to the 2nd amendment.

Somebody ought to shoot that fool in the !@$!
By KillerB

5/21/09 at 4:59 p.m.

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Angryreader -- yeah, by your standards I'm "nuts too." I can live with that, but your hypocrisy of rewarding deadly violence with assassination is quite disturbing.

You should pay attention and stop speculating. In this new posted article replacing the old article on this link, it's not been determined yet how the kid got the handgun. If it was stolen the owner is absolved.

Let's all see what the updated reports bring before jumping to conclusions on this case.
By henderson

5/21/09 at 5:43 p.m.

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The registered owner of the gun will be charged for this shooting, unless it is a stolen gun and the owner has reported it as such. It is people that don't secure their handguns that create this problem. Unfortunately we never hear about all of the crimes that are prevented or thwarted because someone was armed and it happens a lot more often than you think. If you ban handguns, only the criminals will have them, and we will all be sitting ducks for anyone that wants to invade our homes.
By JSpence07

5/21/09 at 6:55 p.m.

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Go figure.. typical whining from the liberals about guns. "Guns are bad.. wah wah wah" Guns are bad in the WRONG hands. I am a proud gun owner and I do not leave guns just laying around for children to play with. I want to know who was the registered owner of that gun. Was it a parent? If so, where was/were the parent(s)? And furthermore, whoever owns this gun should have their weapon(s) taken away. They are obviously too irresponsible to own one.
By level_headed

5/21/09 at 7:55 p.m.

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This is a tragedy for the families of both children. Judgment is being passed without all of the facts in the case. Just because the child got a gun does not mean he has bad irresponsible parents. No one knows if the gun even belonged to this boys parents. Whether it did or not, we still do not know all of the story, and until we do know all of the facts people should stop speculating.
I personally know these people and know for a fact they are very responsible loving parents. Mistakes happen. Accidents happen. And no matter how they got the gun they will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.
We all need to pray for the little girl who is fighting for her life. Pray for both families.
Let the police do their jobs and investigate. Whatever the outcome we need to teach all of our kids about gun safety.
Guns are good, and guns are bad. I agree with the person that said if the police take all of our guns away the only ones that will have them will be the criminals.
Be upset, be angry, be sad, , but don't pass judgement. It could have happened to just about anyone.
Be level headed.
By gmag39

5/21/09 at 8:47 p.m.

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A very thoughtful piece, level headed.
Unfortunately, we have WAY TO MANY KNUCKLEHEADS
in Las Vegas. Way too many individuals that do not have the word "responsibility" in their lexicon.
How many child shootings? at least 3 very recently. Not young adults, not teens, CHILDREN.
How many kids left in hot cars with the windows up? Too many to count. In a recent case, the parent was inside gambling.
How many children die in swimming pools every summer? We've had some tragedies in pools already this spring. More to come, unfortunately.
How many times have you seen kids in cars and suvs and mini vans and the back of pickup trucks with no restraint system? Usually, these vehicles have SEVERAL unrestrained child passengers.
The ones that grow up with these bad parent(s) will perhaps join one of our hundreds of gangs here in the valley.
Odds are at least 50-50 they will not complete even a high school level education.
At that point, the cycle really begins to complete itself, as the children, modeled after their parents, become adults.
Stupid is as stupid does.
By Linda_in_Vegas

5/21/09 at 9:39 p.m.

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Was the firearm already loaded? If so, that was irresponsible on the parent's part. I wouldn't think a 10 year old would know how to load and cock the gun... Yes, we do need to hear the entire story.. People with young children in the house shouldn't leave their guns loaded... Separate the amo and the gun and put out of the reach of children..... I have no problem with people having protection in their home, just please do it responsibly..
By labdaddy

5/22/09 at 6:05 a.m.

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I'm surprised none of the anti-gun nuts have linked officer Mason's death to the fact that he was wearing a gun!
By sheckyvegas

5/22/09 at 1:49 p.m.

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uh, quick question here, folks - where were the parents in this little scene? i see "juveniles" were present, but where were the adults?
By gmag39

5/23/09 at 12:54 a.m.

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Yes, labdaddy, we "anti-gun nuts" are so silly.
Pay NO ATTENTION to the fact that we have an open season going on here in the valley. Little kids shooting other little kids, big kids shooting other big kids, and "adults" shooting other "adults".
It's a WONDERFUL reputation builder for the community and tourist trade. Shoot em' up, big fella!
By labdaddy

5/23/09 at 6:07 a.m.

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gmag59 -
Irresponsible gun owners cause deaths just as irresponsible car owners cause deaths, irresponsible pool owners cause deaths, irresponsible dog owners cause deaths, irresponsible people who leave children in cars cause deaths, irresponsible construction practices cause deaths, irresponsible parenting causes death, irresponsible hospitals cause death, and on and on and on. See any common denominator here?
By friday

5/23/09 at 11:01 a.m.

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gmag,

We have the right to own guns for self defense. These tragedies can not serve to take away the right to self defense. We have the right to protect ourselves from home invasions and protect our families. I absolutely despise the fact that everytime one of these tragedies occur, there's a fringe of people that immediately call for gun bans. Again, if we remove the right to legally possess firearms we will all be powerless to defend ourselves from the criminal element. Let's use these events to stress parental responsibility rather than try to limit the rights of all citizens.
By friday

5/23/09 at 11:12 a.m.

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One other quick note,

10 years old is not a tiny kid! At 10yrs old you know the dangers of guns, and for this kid to point and shoot kind of brings up some serious questions about this child. 10yr olds are big enough to know better!
By labdaddy

5/23/09 at 4:11 p.m.

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I have a gun that is 10 years old. It would never fire by itself. Guns to blame?...Not hardly!
By level_headed

5/25/09 at 9:25 a.m.

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gmag,
Maybe there are so many Knuckleheads in Las Vegas is because Nevada ranks 49th in education!
Maybe it is because this is sin city where the emphasis is on having a good time and not children!
When I moved here my son was in High School and he spent 3 days in Nevada public schools. On the first day a boy threatened to stab him because he was white in a Henderson School. 2 days later he was offered drugs and was ganged up on because the Black and Latino gangs accused him of being from an "Aryan" gang because he is from the south and white and as they put it "don't belong here". We come from a small town where the only gangs are the Baseball team, Basketball team or Soccer team.
Needless to say I pulled my "A honor white boy" out of Nevada Public schools and put him in a private setting where he graduated with honors.
Where we come from the parents emphasis is on their children and not trying to make a fast buck.
Guns are not the problem. People are the problem. In our small town which is on the out skirts of Fort Worth not one child has EVER been shot by another child and I promise you there are probably more guns in that little town that there is in all of Las Vegas!
One last thing, the officer that got killed because he was driving 109 mph, do you want to outlaw cars?