Fallout After Dad Mistakes Son for Intruder, Shoots and Kills Him
Moving forward after your child dies is a day-to-day struggle under any circumstances. But if you’ve accidentally shot and killed your own son, as a Cincinnati father did Tuesday, getting past the grief is unfathomable even for psychologists who deal with mental anguish every day.
“This is just mind-boggling,” says Bart Rossi, a New Jersey-based clinical psychologist who has worked with parents of children who died by gun violence. “This is one of the most extreme cases I’ve ever heard. The impact on him will never go away.”
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The Cincinnati man, whom police have not named or charged, mistook his 14-year-old son for a burglar and shot the boy in the neck, killing him.
A photo of the home where the shooting took place. (WLWT)
“I just shot my son by accident,” the man sobbed to a 911 operator, according to a Cincinnati Enquirer report. “Oh, God. Get here quick. … Please hurry.”
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Earlier that day, the man had taken his son, Georta Mack, to the bus stop and thought he was at school. But Georta had returned home and was hiding in the basement when his father heard noises and grabbed a handgun to investigate, Cincinnati police say. The boy reportedly startled his father, who shot him. Georta died a few hours later in the hospital.
Reports of the 911 call say the father begged police to hurry and asked God why this happened. Rossi says no parent can make sense of such a tragedy.
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“Someone like this can go into a deep depression and spiral downhill,” Rossi says. “Psychologists are often interested in resolving, moving forward and beyond. This is not a case where you can move beyond. It’s a case of coping every day.”
One way to cope is to help others who are dealing with similar tragedies, Rossi says. For instance, parents and families of some of the 26 children and adults killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 have made national gun control their life’s mission.
In 2010, 606 people died in the U.S. from “accidental discharge of firearms,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Jim Finnerty, a firearms instructor in Groton, Mass., says these tragic accidents “are always avoidable” if gun owners remember the four basic rules of gun safety. Finnerty says the rules are:
1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, and don’t point a firearm at anyone or anything you don’t intend to shoot.
2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until your sites are on the target and you’re ready to shoot.
3. Never load your gun until you’re ready to use it.
4. Know your target and what’s beyond.
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