A Man Shoots And Kills Woman With Rifle After Car Crash In Ohio: No Connection Between Victim And Suspect, No Motive Yet Revealed For Such Gun Violence [Update]

The Solon Police reported an accident that occurred in Ohio that led to a woman being shot by a man with a rifle following a car crash. The woman was found in the roadway and had been shot several times.

According to NewsNet5, the police were called to the scene of a car accident and shots fired around 7:20 a.m. on Saturday near the intersection of Richmond Road and Solon Road.

The Solon Police reported that the two-vehicle accident involved the suspect’s car rolling several times. Although the investigation is still ongoing, it appears as though one of the vehicles ran a red light.

There is no known connection between the suspect and the victim. There is no known motive for the shooting as of now. The suspect was located with a 5.56-millimeter rifle and was immediately arrested.

A man fatally shot a woman after a car crash in Solon, Ohio early Saturday. https://t.co/dD1ucyddzL

— The Trace (@teamtrace) August 27, 2016

The victim has not yet been identified and charges are pending against the suspect. The suspect’s name has not yet been released, but was said to be a 29-year-old North Ridgeville man. The identity of the woman will be released once her family has been notified.

The woman was rushed to the hospital nearby, but was pronounced dead at 8:18 a.m., nearly an hour after the accident.

A similar incident occurred in March when an accident led to an altercation, followed by a shooting that led to two people being injured, according to Fox2 Now. There were at least eight bullet holes in the one vehicle. Fortunately, the victims of that shooting were expected to fully recover.

While gun violence is an active problem in the United States, there is a huge controversy over the root of the problem. Do we give up our guns, or do we integrate psychological contributions to help reduce the amount of violent gun crimes? A group of researchers from the American Psychological Association think they may have a solution to reduce gun violence.

Unfortunately, there is no absolute way to reliably predict who will use gun violence towards others; However, there are ways we can use risk factors to reduce who can buy guns. For instance, a person with a history of violence, depression, or a mental illness can be prevented from buying a firearm.

In most cases, male gun enthusiasts are typically the perpetrators of gun violence. Perhaps if we try changing the perceptions of males associated with behavioral and masculine characteristics can reduce gun violence. Psychologists could possibly develop programs to change gendered expectations to include violence and gun violence.

Thirdly, the American Psychological Association believes that certain programs could be created to help parents raise emotionally healthy kids. These programs can include identifying and intervening with children who seem troubled.

Overall, homicides and suicides caused by guns are not caused by the guns themselves, but by the people who are in control of the guns. Therefore, it could be beneficial to prohibit guns to certain individuals that could be a risk of causing gun violence. Among those would be people with a mental illness, domestic violence offenders, those charged with violent crimes, and those who have depression and could be a threat to themselves if they owned a handgun.

Intervention to prevent gun violence would need to take place through many systems, including legal, community, public safety, public health, and healthcare.

While the mental health of the man who shot and killed the woman after the crash in Ohio on Saturday morning is unknown, perhaps cases like this could be limited or prevented with the use of these herein described preventive measures.

The investigation is ongoing and more information will be provided as they become available. Our thoughts are with the woman’s family who was the victim of yet another gun violence crime in the United States.

UPDATE

The woman has been identified as 53-year-old Deborah Pearl of Twinsburg. Her son, Derryo Pearl, told the police that Pearl was on her way to work when the crash and shooting occurred, according to Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“Words can’t explain what we’re going through. This is the roughest patch a human being can go through. I’ve gone through tough times before, but it wasn’t like this.”

Twinsburg woman fatally shot after car crash was driving to work, son says @clevelanddotcom https://t.co/kqrAUql0wI pic.twitter.com/Qhp98sKlij

— Adam Ferrise (@AdamFerrise) August 27, 2016

The police also revealed that the man drove his Jeep through a red light, thus causing the accident. A witness to the crime told police that both the man and woman exited their vehicles, the man holding a gun at the time. When Pearl noticed he was holding the rifle, she raised her arms, but he shot anyhow.

“I can’t get her screams out of my head,” the witness reportedly said.

Deborah Pearl was a great mother to three raised children, Derryo told reporters.

“She disciplined us when she needed to discipline us. She made us go to school every day. She worked hard and taught us that was the only way to succeed in life.”

[Photo by Forance/AP Images]