A day of target practice ended in a tragedy after a 12-year-old girl was accidentally shot in the head. Sydney Darnell was practicing shooting targets with a lever action .22 rifle with her mother Kiara Darnell's boyfriend. Kittitas County Sheriff's deputies say Sydney had just shot the rifle and wanted to check the target.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ellensburg, WA - According to a press release from the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office (KCSO), 12-year-old Sydney Darnell was taken off life support on Monday, May 28, 2018,… <a href="https://t.co/NRHHUEQmYn">https://t.co/NRHHUEQmYn</a></p>— Breaking Skagit (@BreakingSkagit) <a href="https://twitter.com/BreakingSkagit/status/1001664867353464837?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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She then laid the rifle down on the deck railing so she could go down the hill to the target. The mother's boyfriend, 52-year-old Sean Frick of Cle Elum, noticed she left the rifle loaded with the hammer cocked back so he attempted to put the rifle in safety. Sydney had just walked off the deck and was in the direct line of sight of the rifle when it went off. Frick immediately began CPR on an unresponsive Sydney while Darnell called 911.
Emergency responders airlifted Sydney to Harborview Medical Center around 1:40 p.m. and she was kept alive with life support until 9:30 a.m. the following morning. Kittitas County Sheriff's deputies issued a statement saying, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Sydney’s family and friends as they face the sorrow and pain of this tragedy."
Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/26864-Toddler-Fatally-Shoots-His-Two-Year-Old-Brother">Toddler Fatally Shoots His Two-Year-Old Brother</a>
The statement continued:
"We also pray that those who become aware of this incident will show compassion before deciding how they can use it to communicate their own personal belief and/or agenda. Tragic injury or loss of life, especially when it involves children, frustrates us and reaches all of our emotions. Just because Social media allows us the opportunity to criticize, condemn and hate, doesn’t mean we have to. It has been my experience that Righteous Indignation does little more than feed the ego of the sender, so before you decide to launch your attack, consider some of the beneficial alternatives; sympathy, mercy, and compassion."
An investigation is underway by the sheriff's office with the help of the County Coroner and the King County Medical Examiner. It is unclear if charges have been filed at this time.
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This fucking idiot "dry fired" a gun while pointed at the girl? That description of events is incredulous.
Such a tragedy. Of course that doesn't stop the lame Liberal Left Mental Midget like Anonymous 27592 above. Damn retard. Such a sad sack of manure you are.
A very sad event. May she rest in peace and God give the family strength and solitude they need right now. Let's leave them alone and let them sorrow the loss of a loved one. My thoughts are with the family.
Quoting the story….
"…shooting targets with a lever action .22 rifle …"
"…mother's boyfriend, ….noticed she left the rifle loaded with the hammer cocked back so he attempted to put the rifle in safety."
SO we are discussing a LEVER action rifle, NOT even a semi-auto rifle. A LEVER Action rifle does NOT look anything like a AR-15 style rifle.
Such misleading journalism only perpetuates the false myths that AR's are responsible for a majority of Gun deaths, and should be banned.
The mother's boyfriend's story doesn't pass the smell test. Why would the girl pull the hammer back and just lay the gun down? She obviously just fired off several rounds, so she knows how to shoot. It's highly illogical and improbable that she would pull the hammer back before setting the gun down.
The mother's boyfriend murdered the girl. He's the only witness who allegedly saw the gun laying down with the hammer was cocked back. That is the key detail.
First of all, the gun isn't going to go off on its own, whether or not the safety is on. I don't buy the idea that he had to pick it up and point it directly at the girl's head to turn on the safety. Highly illogical and improbable.
But if the hammer was in fact NOT pulled back, this becomes a premeditated murder. If it was a semi-auto, you could almost get away with claiming "it just went off." But no one accidentally pulls back the hammer. That is a deliberate act. And the only one who can confirm or deny the boyfriend's story has a bullet in her skull.
I'm not saying he'll get convicted of murder. I'm saying, from a philosophical perspective, he is more than likely a murderer. He may never get arrested, but that doesn't change the fact that he's probably a cold-blooded murderer. If I had to guess about his motive, perhaps he's a kiddie-toucher covering his tracks. That's the most likely explanation.
Gun safety and self-defense should be taught with the same vigor liberals are pushing gender identity.
OK lotsa issues with this article.
1st and most glaring is the leading photo showing a woman not appropriately dressed for the range holding an AR-15. Gives persons that don't read the idea that an AR was used when in fast it was a lever action 22lr.
Now on to this story, it stinks of either complete disregard for firearm safety and plain bad luck, which I hope is the case. But a more plausible story would be the new boyfriend wanted his new lady all to himself and offed the 12 year old. 1st if the kid didn't make the rifle safe before going downrange he should have called her back and made her correct her mistake so she would learn from it. 2nd is why would the guy put his finger into the trigger guard or even try to manipulate the safety with the gun not pointed in a safe direction. And 3rd it takes a pretty well placed shot to kill at a distance with a 22, so accidently hitting a small child that was moving with an almost instantly lethal shot would be pretty bad luck or intentional in my eyes.
Like Sherlock said "The mother's boyfriend's story doesn't pass the smell test."
What a sad waste of life and another hit against guns.
GW please correct that lead picture to represent a lever action rifle. Please!
I agree with Sherlock Holmes. Do you idiots really think that he "accidently" aimed at her head? Do you really think the gun went off on its own? It is lever action. Take a moment to recheck your brains. The obvious event is GLARINGLY obvious.
lol drumpftards rekt