22 year old mother arrested after 6 year old shoots and kills younger brother

The 22 year old mother of a four year old boy shot by his older brother on Saturday, has been arrested by police in East Orange, US.

Officials confirmed it was a 6-year-old boy, a brother of the victim, who accidentally shot and killed the 4-year-old on the front porch of the family’s single-storey home.

The boy was playing freely with his mother’s gun when he accidentally shot his younger brother in the head, causing fatal injuries. The victim was rushed to University Hospital in Newark, and pronounced dead at 4:25pm.

The boys’ mother, 22-year-old Itiyanah Spruill, was later arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation. Bail was set at $310,000.

Neighbours on the normally quiet Norman Street in East Orange were stunned and shocked that children so young should have been allowed access to a lethal weapon.

CBS quoted neighbour Vania Limage as saying “This is crazy, and has been covered in the news over and over...people should never have a gun around a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old”.

The investigation is ongoing. Just over a week ago, the owner of a popular gun store in Amelia, Ohio, James Baker was killed when a student attending his gun-safety class accidentally discharged a weapon.

The 64-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene when the student who was attending a concealed-carry class at KayJay Gun Shop, accidentally discharged the gun. Apparently, the bullet went through a dividing wall and struck Baker in the neck.

The US establishment’s refusal to re-visit US legislation on gun laws, specifically the individual’s righ to carry a gun, concealed or otherwise, continues to baffle the developed world, in light of the many targeted mass shootings, several on college campus and educational facilities.