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Milwaukee Highway: Woman Accidentally Shot Dead By Child Sitting In Back Seat

By Rahul Srinivas
Published on: 14:16 PST, Apr 26, 2016

In a shocking incident, a 26-year-old woman who was driving down a Milwaukee highway was fatally shot by a child sitting in the backseat of the car they were traveling in, reports NY Daily News. According to reports, the child somehow got hold of a gun that was apparently carelessly kept somewhere near the backseat of the vehicle and pulled the trigger.

According to officials from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, the woman who is yet to be identified was driving down Highway 175 southbound when the incident happened. After the woman was shot, the car crashed into a barrier and came to a halt. Authorities reached the scene at around 10:30 a.m., on Tuesday, a statement released by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office confirms. The statement read,

“Initial witness accounts indicate that a child in the back seat of the vehicle got ahold of a gun and discharged the firearm, sending a single bullet into the driver’s back. The MCSO investigation into the death is on-going.”

The shooting incident happened just two miles north of Miller Park, the baseball stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers. A report by WISN 12 News is embedded below.

The statement by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office added that the 26-year-old woman was pronounced dead on scene after deputies inspected the vehicle. The New York Times reports that the woman had no pulse when deputies arrived, and that she was not breathing. Several attempts were made to revive her by the officers, all of which failed. An investigation is underway to find out how the child got hold of the gun. Officials have not released the details about the child, his or her age, or identity. It also remains unclear if the woman was the mother of the child or whether the two were related in some other way.

Meanwhile, several eyewitnesses to the Milwaukee highway shooting incident reported seeing two children near the vehicle. According to Kourtney Blevis, a passerby,

“People were panicking and you could tell people were generally trying to help. I know there’s some little boys down there which they put in a police car. It was two little boys — it looked like some kids were involved unfortunately.”

The Milwaukee Highway shooting incident is not the first time media outlets have heard of children shooting and killing people accidentally. In fact, this latest incident of shooting on the Milwaukee Highway is eerily similar to an incident that happened in Florida just two months ago. Back then, a Florida woman was shot in the back by her own 4-year-old son after the child found a loaded gun lying in the back seat. The woman, later identified as 31-year-old Jamie Gilt, survived the shooting.

Gilt, who was later found to be a Florida pro-gun activist, is now expected to face misdemeanor charges for allowing a minor access to a firearm. Last month, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office under whose jurisdiction that shooting incident happened filed an affidavit with local prosecutors asking that Gilt be charged with the second-degree misdemeanor. If convicted, Gilt may be sentenced to spend up to 180 days in jail, a local investigator told reporters.

The incident had raked up controversy and several anti-gun activists criticized Gilt for her various social media postings in which she bragged about how her son gets “jacked up to target shoot.” She also ran a Facebook page “Jamie Gilt for Gun Sense,” which was later removed. The page often contained images of her posing with guns.

We will add more information pertaining to the Milwaukee highway shooting case once we receive more updates.

[Image Via Pixabay]

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