DELORAINE, Man. – A gun that was used by a five-year-old boy to accidentally shoot his four-year-old sister on a Manitoba farm was stored in an unlocked closet along with winter coats and wasn’t equipped with a trigger lock, their father says.
Dan Lachapelle said the shooting, which happened over the weekend, was a horrible accident that could have been prevented.
“I am prepared to take full responsibility for not having my guns properly stored,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “This is something that very well could have been prevented. I know better. I took hunter safety and I just should have had at least trigger locks on them.”
RCMP are investigating the shooting which happened on a farm south of Brandon on Saturday afternoon. Lachapelle said his guns are normally kept locked in a closet with winter gear but, this time of year, the closet is often open.
“It’s hunting season and the time of year when you get a lot more animals in the yard, we have chickens,” he said.
While Lachapelle was at work, his wife was home with their three children, including their six-month-old baby. His son got a hold of his gun and asked to go outside and shoot it, Lachapelle said. His mother said no and took the gun into the bedroom where she laid it down to change the baby’s diaper, he said.
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While his mother tended to the baby, Lachapelle said his son managed to load the gun with a bullet and shot through a door. His four-year-old daughter was on the other side and was hit just below the kidney.
“I think he bumped into the door and his finger was on the trigger,” Lachapelle said. “He did not take it out and point it right at his sister.”
The little girl was airlifted to a hospital in Winnipeg where she underwent surgery and is now in stable condition.
“She’s not out of the woods yet,” he said. “She had surgery that took out a chunk of her lower intestine and then they sewed it back together. She still has a pretty high risk of infection.”
The whole family is shaken by the accident, he said. The boy likely didn’t know what he was doing and doesn’t know he hurt his sister, Lachapelle said. The boy is now staying with relatives. Lachapelle said his son was always interested in guns – they were planning on buying him a replica toy gun for Christmas – and the father and son used to target practice together.
Lachapelle had ordered a gun safe as a Christmas present but, like many parents of toddlers, he said they were more preoccupied with child-proofing the electrical sockets and cupboard doors in the house. They never dreamed of such a tragedy, he said.
“Kids are kids and they will do stuff like this,” he said. “Trigger locks save lives. Kids cannot shoot a gun if you have a trigger lock on it.”
The shooting comes three weeks after a nine-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed by his 14-year-old brother on the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. RCMP say they are still investigating that tragedy and haven’t decided if charges will be laid.
RCMP Cpl. Miles Hiebert said investigators are looking into this latest accidental shooting, specifically how the five-year-old boy managed to get his hands on a gun. The two cases underline the importance of firearm safety, Hiebert said.
“This really brings to mind and drives home the point about safe storage and handling practices for firearms,” Hiebert said. “People really need to be aware of how dangerous these things can be.”
– By Chinta Puxley in Winnipeg
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