From the 'Foolish people with guns' file...

[David2012]

This story is so sad... you can never tell people enough to make sure of their target and what is down range behind their target!

[h=1]Girl in costume at Halloween party shot after being mistaken for skunk[/h]Published October 21, 2012
Associated Press



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/2...aken-for-skunk/?test=latestnews#ixzz29zV72ATj

FREEDOM, Pa. – Police say a costumed 9-year-old girl was accidentally shot outside a western Pennsylvania home during a Halloween party by a relative who thought she was a skunk.
New Sewickley Township police say the girl was over a hillside and wearing a black costume and a black hat with a white tassel. Chief Ronald Leindecker says a male relative mistook her for a skunk and fired a shotgun, hitting her in the shoulder Saturday night.
Leindecker tells the Beaver County Times that the girl was alert and talking when she was flown to a hospital in Pittsburgh, about 30 miles away. Her condition was unavailable.
Leindecker says the man hadn't been drinking and he doesn't know whether charges will be filed.
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[AKguy1985]

seriously???? How stupid does somebody have to be???

Makes me think of the first episode of that cop show due south. Bad guy gets killed by a canadian native. Native says: I thought he was a caribou".

 

[Danny Tanner]

What BS. Even if he's never seen a skunk and what they look like, how they move, etc, it's still no excuse for shooting a little girl. Even the best stage performers with the best animal costumes money can buy can't pass off as real animals, so there's no way a 9 year old girl had the movements, not to mention the size, to confuse an adult into thinking she's a real animal, let alone a small animal like a skunk.

 

[richard597]

A very sad situation. It only proves that you must "KNOW" your target. Guessing just does not cut it when deadly force is involved.

 

[MLRyan]

Halloween PARTY. Methinks alcohol could be involved.