ND(?) kills 18month old

[jakeswensonmt]

Source Article

I don't know how this guy is going to be able to live with himself after this. Yet another reason to keep the four rules strict, no exceptions.

Evergreen girl shot; man jailed
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian

An Evergreen man is in jail in connection with the fatal shooting of an 18-month-old girl Wednesday night.

Flathead County Undersheriff Pete Wingert said the man, 23-year-old Dwayne Scott Smail, was arrested after an interview at the sheriff's department.

No formal charges were filed against him Thursday, however, and a spokeswoman for the Flathead County attorney said none would be filed until a more detailed investigation was complete.

“We're going to hold him for 48 hours so we can get a little more information,” Wingert said.

Law enforcement was called about 8:20 p.m. to the Montana Village apartment complex on Highway 35 just east of Kalispell. Smail made the call to 9-1-1, reporting that the young girl had been shot in the head.

She was dead at the scene.

Smail lived with the girl's mother, and Wingert did not identify either on Thursday.

Smail had been taking care of the girl while the toddler's mother was at work.

“It's not real clear to us what happened there quite yet,” Wingert said.

The girl died from a shot from a 9 mm handgun, but it's not clear how the gun discharged.

“What we can say right now is that the girl was under his care and this gun discharged and killed her,” Wingert said. “What we're trying to determine are the circumstances of the gun going off.”

An autopsy was under way at the State Crime Lab in Missoula, and Wingert said officers were studying blood spatter patterns in the apartment to determine whether the story Smail told officers matches evidence.

Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com

 

[Uncle Ben]

A very sad reminder...

 

[jephthai]

I've got a small child and another on the way (getting here soon!), and I have been working on absolute care whenever there are live rounds in the same room as my revolver. There's never been a loaded weapon more than 3 feet from the bedside safe. Plus, I won't even open the safe unless I've verified the location of all family members and my son is in his own room.

I can only imagine the emotional pain that must come with such a horrific event.

-Jephthai-

 

[jakeswensonmt]

update

Source

Homicide charges filed in toddler's death
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian

A 23-year-old Evergreen man was charged Friday with negligent homicide for his role in the shooting death of a 1 1/2-year-old girl.

Dwayne Scott Smail appeared in Flathead County Justice Court to hear the charges against him - charges stemming from Wednesday night's death of a young girl identified as K.W.

Bond was set at $200,000, plus appearance, and a hearing was set for March 27 in district court.

An affidavit filed by the Flathead County attorney states that Smail was alone with the girl - the daughter of his girlfriend, Amy Williams - on Wednesday night.

Smail was taking care of the child at the couple's Montana Village apartment in Evergreen while Williams was at work.

According to court records, Smail owns a Ruger 9 mm pistol that doesn't have a safety.

Amy Williams told officers that Smail enjoyed playing with the gun around the house, and that she told him often to put the gun away.

Williams also said Smail, who has misdemeanor assault convictions in both Washington and Montana, left the gun out, giving the little girl access to it, court records state.

On Wednesday night, Smail and the little girl fell asleep on the bed. The gun was nearby, on the bedsprings. Smail, court records state, woke to a tap on the shoulder and opened his eyes to see the gun in the girl's hand.

“K.W. had the pistol and he went to grab it from her and the gun went off,” the affidavit states.

Smail called 9-1-1, and sheriff's deputies arrived to find the girl dead on the
bed with the pistol next to her.

 

[sevesteen]

Something smells fishy to me. The gun is described in another article as a "Ruger 9mm without a safety", tending to indicate a DAO gun. I don't think a toddler could work a DAO trigger.

 

[tplumeri]

Something smells fishy to me

+1
5 lb trigger? shot in the head?
the kid would have to be holding the gun backwards with both hands, thumbs on the trigger.

 

[leathermanwave]

ruger 9mm without a safety doesn't exist. I live near there .They have the guy in jail. It seems a little fishy. My newspaper said that the gun went off while he was taking the gun away from the toddler.

 

[SteelJM1]

By 'safety' they probably meant trigger lock or something of the sort.

Either way, a tragedy that could have been avoided :/

 

[sevesteen]

ruger 9mm without a safety doesn't exist. I live near there .They have the guy in jail. It seems a little fishy. My newspaper said that the gun went off while he was taking the gun away from the toddler.

According to this, the P89 comes with decocker/safety, decocker only and DAO versions, and all the versions after have either a DAO or decocker-only variant as one of the options.

No argument at all that this is fishy. I'll be very surprised if they determine that the child was the one that pulled the trigger.

 

[Playboypenguin]

I won't go as far as to suggest foul play without further information, but at the very best this is negligent gun handling. Negligent gun handling is bad enough...negligent gun handling around a child is unforgivable.

 

[Magnum Mike]

Negligent gun handling is bad enough...negligent gun handling around a child is unforgivable

++1
Lock him up! Sounds like he should not of had a gun in the first place.

 

[jrfoxx]

I won't go as far as to suggest foul play without further information, but at the very best this is negligent gun handling.

That's my guess too, based on several articles.I dont really buy that the toddler shot herself, or he intentionally shot her, or it went off when he tried to get the gun away from her (although, I'll say that would be my #2 guess on what happened).I think he was playing with it, had an ND and shot her.Either way, he needs some seroius punishment for his actions.

 

[JohnKSa]

ruger 9mm without a safety doesn't exist.

The P89 and P95 both have been available in DAO and decock only models. I would assume the same for the P94.

I'm always extremely skeptical about these stories of toddlers shooting themselves and others. Unless people leave cocked guns lying around, it's pretty unlikely...

 

[jakeswensonmt]

I'm always extremely skeptical about these stories of toddlers shooting themselves and others.

Apparently the cops are too...

(source)

Toddler wasn't holding gun when killed, authorities say
By the Associated Press

KALISPELL - Investigators said Wednesday they believe a 19-month-old girl who was fatally shot last week wasn't holding the handgun when she was killed - contradicting the story of a man who was with her when the gun fired.

“We do not have reason to believe the child had the weapon in her hands at the time of her death,” Flathead County Detective Cmdr. Jeanne Landis said, referring to Korbyn Eva May Williams.

According to court documents, Dwayne Smail told investigators he placed the 9 mm pistol - which had no safety - on an exposed portion of his bed's box spring before he went to sleep March 5. He awoke to Korbyn tapping him on the shoulder and holding the gun. When Smail tried to grab it from her, it went off, according to the documents. The girl died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.

Smail was charged Friday with negligent homicide. His arraignment is scheduled for March 27.

Detectives are investigating where Smail and Korbyn were in relation to each other when the gun went off. They also are analyzing DNA and gunshot residue and trying to determine how much pressure on the trigger is required to fire the weapon. Additional information on how the gun discharged was not available Wednesday.

“I'm fearful that the release of any further information at this point could compromise the investigation,” Landis said.

The toddler had been found with the pistol a few days before the shooting, and her mother, Aimee Marie Williams, told police she had asked Smail several times to keep the handgun out of Korbyn's reach, according to court documents. Smail was in a relationship with the toddler's mother and was caring for the child in an Evergreen apartment the three shared while she was at work, according to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office. No one else was in the apartment at the time of the shooting.

 

[ssn vet]

it's called M-U-R-D-E-R.....

18 month old children have finger prints too....

the police know the guys story was a lie!

let's see here....

Dufus 23 year old with less maturity than my 8 year old (plays with loaded gun with child in room, leave loaded gun out where child can get hands on it)
is left to baby sit and 18 month old.

Guess what 18 month old kids need a lot of..........ATTENTION

Guess what 18 month old kids do when they don't get it........CRY

Guess what 'boys' who don't have the maturity to babysit a young child do when they can't get the child to "shut up"...........HURT THE CHILD.

What we're trying to determine are the circumstances of the gun going off

simple answer.....

dufus pulled the trigger! and hit what he was pointing the muzzle at, when the trigger was puilled.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

It's the case that men who live with women who have a child by another father (not a planned adoption or a second marriage) are much, much more likely to abuse or kill the kids. It's seen by some as a sociobiological process to eliminate competing resource drains. If you want to have kids with that women, the other kids just drain away resources for the success of your genetic offspring.

It's like when a male bear kills cubs to mate with a female.

 

[leathermanwave]

It is terrible that someone would hurt a todler. this is the type of people who need the death sentence.

 

[Aqeous]

According to the facts stated the notion that this guy pointed, aimed and shot with deliberate intent is a little bit of a jump, though not impossible.

What we do know is that the toddler had been sporting a 9mm in (at least) one prior occasion. Which does not mean that the child shot herself, but it does strongly suggest that this guy MUST have at some point SEEN this child holding his gun. A 23 year old male who is not the father with a previous violent misdemeanor WILL MOST LIKELY LAUGH at the sight of a toddler sporting a 9mm. HE WILL MOST LIKELY thinks its amusing, laughter will probably be his first reaction.

Psychologically speaking: he obviously cares very little for gun safety or he would not be leaving his loaded gun around the house in (I got the impression) what was relatively random places.

Add these two concept up and you have a situation where he might at some point be playing with the gun not just in close proximity to the toddler but ACTUALLY WITH the toddler. And that is a recipe for just about anything . . . to bad the bullet didn't end up in him.


Regardless considering the circumstances involved he deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. And it seems to me that the cops do at this point seem to suspect foul play . . . but in our legal system they will have to prove it.

 

[DBski]

You're right something is indeed fishy, in fact rotten smelling. I have a Ruger P94 in 40SW, DAO and the trigger pull seems at least 12 lbs. (don't know for sure) but it is very heavy. I cannot see how an 18 month old child could do it. Falling asleep on a bed with a child and a gun. This guy is a COMPLETE MORON and his girl friend is not the brightest either letting him "PLAY" with a loaded gun . Both of them should be locked up forever.

 

[Playboypenguin]

I am willing to accept that it is an accident and that he did not intentionally kill the child...but I am not willing to forgive the reckless and irresponsible behavior that led to her death.