Ohio mother charged after allegedly shooting son, 5, in knees
An allegedly intoxicated Trenise B. Turner fired a single shot that reportedly struck both her son’s legs. He’s awaiting surgery.
An Ohio woman has been charged with felony endangerment after police say she shot her own 5-year-old son in his knees.
In a statement posted to Facebook early Saturday, the Columbus Police Department said the boy was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital the prior afternoon just after 5 p.m., suffering from a gunshot wound that went through both knees.
Alerted detectives determined that the unidentified child was injured while lying on the couch next to his mother, 30-year-old Trenise B. Turner.
The statement reads that “Turner, who was intoxicated, was pointing her handgun at several adults in the home and making threats. As she was putting the handgun back in her purse, she fired a shot, striking her son in the legs.”
Family members transported the 5-year-old to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, officials said, and he is reportedly in stable condition waiting for corrective surgery.
One commenter wrote under the CPD post: “This breaks me. The trauma, both physical and emotional, that this little guy endured through the whole incident is devastating. I pray he makes a full recovery and is able to have a stable home and counseling so he can conquer this tragedy.”
Turner remains in Franklin County Jail.
Ohio has some of the laxest gun laws in the nation. There is no permit, background check or firearms registration required when purchasing a gun from a private individual, and open carry is legal in Ohio except in vehicles.
While it is not applicable in this case, Ohio also became a “Stand Your Ground” state in January, meaning a person legally carrying a firearm in public will no longer have to try to retreat from a threat before pulling the trigger.
“You have to first not have started the situation, not have escalated the situation,” Joe Eaton of the Buckeye Firearms Association said. “And secondly, you have to be in immediate fear of death or serious bodily harm and have no other option except for deadly force to survive that situation.” His organization said that it was happy that Governor Mike DeWine enacted the law, which was a campaign promise.
However, experts have found that stand your ground laws are inherently racist. The killing of Black people by whites is more likely to be considered justified than the killing of white people by Blacks.
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The post Ohio mother charged after allegedly shooting son, 5, in knees appeared first on TheGrio.
