What a massively sad tragedy - just how the hell does an 11 year old end up in the possession of a loaded firearm?
This is Wisconsin. Reasonably rural Wisconsin. Every 11-year-old I knew, when I grew up in WI, was already hunting with their family, and probably already had some Hunter's Safety courses where you learn to handle and respect firearms. Hell, I had taken down a deer with a 16 gauge shotgun when I was 12. A .22 is something that a rural family might have on hand to kill rodents in the yard, or keep coyotes, foxes or raccoons from getting at chickens. They might have a couple...one with a nice scope for dad, and one with just some sights for the kid to practice with.
Keeping it locked up and forbidden is like telling your 19 year-old that the beer in the fridge is off-limits while you're on vacation.
Poor kid. Hope he went quick...he had some potential...Chaos386 is right...impressive for an 11 year old doing something creative with his hands rather than just...playing Halo.
Also, they simply said he was pronounced dead 35 minutes after helps arrived at the scene. They never said, "He was pronounced 'dead' at the scene 35 minutes after aid arrived." They very well could have been in the hospital for 20 minutes. Johnson Creek is 2,055 residents. They may not even have an ambulance/ They may have an emt or two who live in the town who get there to begin administering high-level first aid, while a rescue squad from a neighboring town hits the road. Also, in rural parts of the country, someone who has teh authority to "pronounce" death isn't always readily available. Sometimes they will either wait for a coroner to show up at the scene, or they will take them to the hospital.
Even if the EMT's walk into the room, and someone's head is 3ft away from their body, only certain people can officially declare the death for obvious legal reasons.
