Woman fatally shoots 27-year-old daughter after mistaking her for intruder, police say

Woman fatally shoots 27-year-old daughter after mistaking her for intruder, police say

What a terrible tragedy, my sympathy for the mother who has to live with this. When people ask me why they need training and why they need to keep training past the minimal class required to get your permit , I unfortunately have to turn them to this type of story. Limited details, leave limited reflection, but here’s the takeaway.

Know your target and what is beyond, this is one of the NRA safety rules for a reason. This woman did not know her target, she was scared, believed she was going to be attacked, and reacted. Please, let’s not focus on the gun, if this woman had a flashlight or turned on the lights her daughter would be alive today if the information presented is complete. If you have a firearm for self defense you need a flashlight, the brighter the better. If you can not identify what you are shooting at you should not be shooting, period.

They said multiply times that this woman was a dispatcher and that because of such she was being treated like law enforcements. Two things here, one if you ever had the smallest thing that the news can label you with, they will . Two, the rules change on your status. The news has a job to do and that is to sell advertising, not report the news. Anything they can do within the boundaries of “ethics” and the law they will do to get people to watch. The fact that this woman is a dispatcher has nothing to do with the incident at all. But they repeatedly bring it up because it is a label to use, it may even be reported as a officer involved shooting by the end. We see this all the time, “Former teacher arrested for drunk driving,” yet the person has not worked in education for a decade. So if you must defend yourself be prepared to be dragged through the mud. On the other side of the coin this woman is not having her name released and she is most likely on paid leave pending an investigation, unless you’re law enforcement you will not be treated with the same respect. Your name, photo, and life history will be on the news at 6 with an exclusive interview with your third grade teacher and your cousin’s former boyfriend’s roommate.

In all the interviews the most personal thing anyone had to say about the family was that the older gentleman said he saw the daughter going to school. People, get to know your neighbors. For so many reasons, but in this case people who know each other deeper than the suburban wave are far less likely to want to talk to the media and far more willing to talk to the police about how great of a person you are. People’s’ attitudes change after a thing like this but if you’re living somewhere get to know your neighbors. These people are also a support network for you, and any local crisis you might find yourself in you can all pull together and support each other inset of going it alone.

Again my deepest sympathy for this poor woman. I can not change what happen, but I can learn from it, I use it as a teachable moment for my students.

–Be Safe