Police: Mother's boyfriend shot children with airsoft gun as 'punishment'
NEW CASTLE, Ind. — A New Castle man faces 10 felony charges over allegations he routinely shot his girlfriend's five children, with an airsoft gun, as "punishment" for misbehavior.
Investigators said most of those shots saw plastic pellets fired at the young victims' feet.
Joseph Michael Bonar, 25, is charged with five counts each of domestic battery resulting in bodily injury to a person under the age of 14, a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison, and neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony with a maximum 30-month sentence.
The children's mother, 30-year-old Maresa Marie Kunze, faces the same 10 charges, also filed in Henry Circuit Court 2.
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Nurses at a local school reported one of the children had "bruises on her feet and back, all in different stages of healing."
The state Department of Child Services launched a related investigation in December, and the children were each examined in the emergency room at Henry County Hospital.
Interviewed by a New Castle police investigator on Dec. 22, Kunze initially denied Bonar played any role in disciplining her children, but she eventually admitted he had "shot the children with the airsoft guns in the feet and backs as a form of punishment, and that she did allow it."
She said she at times had told Bonar he was "going overboard." The mother said she at first lied about the allegations because she feared "losing her kids and Joseph."
Kunze said she had taken photos of her children's bruises, but deleted them after Bonar told her, "If I get in trouble for it, you're going to get in trouble for it."
Bonar told police the idea of using the airsoft guns to punish the children was his, and said it had been ongoing since April.
He told police he regretted the incidents "as soon as it was done," but acknowledged he then "continued doing it."
Police said at least one of the children denied having been shot with the pellets, and then told Kunze, "I told them what you told me to say, Mom."
The police reports indicated the children's father died as a result of COVID in October 2021. Some of the children told investigators their entire family played with the airsoft guns in local parks to help cope with anger resulting from their father's death.
Kunze continued to be held in the Henry County jail on Tuesday under a $62,500 surety bond and a $5,500 cash bond.
Bonar was released from the jail on Dec. 29 after posting bond. He waived an initial court hearing, and has received an April 17 trial date.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Mother, boyfriend charged after children are shot with airsoft guns
