July 20, 2011 MO. police officer’s 3 yr old son accidently killed playing with gun www.privateofficer.com
The three year old son of a Maryland Heights police officer was killed Tuesday afternoon while playing with his father’s personal handgun. Three year old Daniel Metz shot himself in the chest and was pronounced dead at DePaul Medical Center in Bridgeton. His father, Patrolman Ryan Metz, was on duty at the time, on patrol in his own neighborhood, and was the first to respond to the scene of his son’s death.
The Maryland Heights police chief, Col. Thomas O’Conner, said the child was apparently unsupervised in a bedroom of his parent’s home when he somehow found the loaded gun and killed himself. Chief O’Conner said Patrolman Metz had been with the force for two years and is “a good officer.”
This is the latest in a series of incidents in the metro area where children have shot and injured or killed themselves after finding an unlocked, loaded gun in a home.
“I’ve been a police officer 29 years,” said Chief O’Conner, “and I never brought a loaded gun into my home while my kids were there for this very reason. The gun should have been unavailable, locked up or something else, for a toddler to find.”
O’Conner said the case will be investigated the same as every other incident involving a child injured or killed by a gun in the home. “We’ll give the family some space, because they’re devastated,” he said. “We will interview everyone who was there and all the first responders to determine how the child gained access to the weapon, and we’ll refer the case to prosecutors if necessary.”
This is the latest in a string of incidents involving children shooting themselves, or being shot. On July 12, a three year old girl in St. Louis died after accidentally shooting herself with a gun she found in a bedroom. That same day, a 13 year old in East St. Louis accidentally wounded herself when a gun she was holding discharged in her side. Also on July 12, an 11 year old boy was shot and killed while playing basketball near O’Fallon Park on the city’s north side.
Source:KTVI-FOX2now.com
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