‘Another irresponsible gun owner’: Internet slams parents after Utah boy, 9, is arrested for fatally shooting man

TOOELE, UTAH:  A 9-year-old child whose name has not been disclosed has been arrested in northern Utah for fatally shooting a family member in the head, police said on Tuesday, February 20.

After receiving reports of a man being unconscious and bleeding from his head, officers from the Tooele City Police Department, stationed 35 miles (56 kilometers) southwest of Salt Lake City, were summoned to the family's residence on the night of Friday, February 16th.

Police continue their investigation 

Utah Police promptly determined that the 32-year-old had sustained a gunshot wound to the head, leading to critical condition, according to Cpl Colbey Bentley.

First responders transported the man to a hospital near Salt Lake City, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Authorities have not revealed the specific familial relationship between the two individuals. The child has not been formally charged, and neither individual has been publicly identified by police.

Bentley refrained from disclosing the identities of the man or any specifics regarding the child involved. He stated that the police are still in the preliminary stages of the investigation and are not prepared to divulge information about the circumstances leading up to the shooting.

Bentley emphasized that the investigators are acutely aware of the "extremely sensitive nature" of the case.

Throughout his eight years in law enforcement, he stated that he had never encountered a case like this, and other officers who had served on the force similarly asserted that they had never dealt with a homicide investigation involving the arrest of a nine-year-old.

"The impact (is being) felt not just by the family, but the community in general," he said. "This is something that's such an outlier that we've never dealt with before. We're trying to figure out how to cope with it and properly investigate it," he said.

Internet reacts to the incident 

On February 21, a Reddit post was uploaded with the caption, "9-year-old Tooele child arrested after shooting, killing a family member." This sparked a range of reactions from internet users.

One user commented, "How did a 9-year-old get a loaded gun?" Another user responded, suggesting, "Apparently parents who really didn't do a better job keeping it out of a child's reach."

A user expressed, "I don't blame the kid. Who the heck lets a 9-year-old have a gun?" Another user responded, speculating, "More likely they left the gun somewhere reachable by the 9-year-old, like a nightstand or a cabinet, instead of storing it in a gun safe or even a locked case."

A user even went on saying, "Another irresponsible gun owner."

Another user remarked, "Why arrest the kid when an adult is the one who left a gun with a little kid? Arrest the adult (if he didn’t die)."

Following that, another user questioned, "Who arrests 9-year-olds instead of the idiot who owned the gun?"