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'Tragic all around:' Gun accident claims 9 year old

Vic Ryckaert
The Indianapolis Star
IMPD Chief Bryan Roach speaks about the K-9 "recruits" at the City County Building, Indianapolis, Wednesday, April 12, 2017. The ceremony welcomed a new class of K-9 "recruits" and was the first held in Indianapolis history. The ceremony also announced the retirement of K-9 Officer Dezco, and welcomed new K-9 Officer Blakely, who is named after fallen National Guard Staff Sgt. Richard Blakely, Plainfield, Ind.

INDIANAPOLIS — Two children were playing with a handgun they should never have had access to on Monday night, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Bryan Roach said.

A bullet struck 9-year-old Mykah Jackson in the face. Family members rushed him to a hospital.

Too late. The boy died.

"The Jackson family will be burying a 9-year-old kid," an exasperated Roach said Tuesday. "That family will suffer and we as a community will suffer."

Mykah is the second child to die in an accidental shooting this year in Indianapolis.

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D'Asia Turentine's 3-year-old brother was playing with his mother's purple handgun on New Year's Eve when he shot his older sister.

D'Asia, 5, died on Jan. 3, becoming the city's first homicide of 2017.

Prosecutors charged their mother, Asia Turentine, with felony neglect. She pleaded guilty on May 30, Marion Superior Court records show.

Tuerentine is scheduled to be sentenced on July 7.

Roach said the community has seen too many tragedies caused by neglectful gun owners.

In May 2016, 9-year-old Anthony Harmon Jr. was shot in the face at an apartment in Cumberland. Anthony died and a 13-year-old boy was later charged as a juvenile with murder.

In November 2016, a 7-year-old Greenwood boy shot his father in the wrist during an argument. The boy's father and step-mother were charged with neglect. The boy was charged as a juvenile with criminal recklessness.

On Nov 13, 2016, a 2-year-old boy grabbed a gun from a dresser and shot his 4-year-old sister in the cheek and mother in the head on the north side.

In April 2016, a 2-year-old died after he shot himself with a handgun he found in his mother's purse on the north-west side.

A recent USA TODAY and Associated Press investigation found that children under age 12 die from gun accidents in the United States about once a week, on average.

The decision on whether to charge the gun owners with a crime depends entirely on how aggressive local prosecutors are, the investigation found.

Roach had a warning for gun owners. "I hope you have a healthy respect for the impact that gun can have."

The gun accident that killed Mykah happened at an apartment shortly before 10 p.m. Monday.

Police on Tuesday withheld details, saying only that "the child and his friend were playing with a firearm when it accidentally discharged striking the child in the face."

The gun owner is a 27-year-old man who is related to the victim, police said. Prosecutors will consider whether to file criminal charges.

Don't own a gun if you can't control your emotions, Roach said.

Don't own a gun if can't make good decisions, Roach said.

Use gun locks and keep firearms away from children, Roach said.

"It's tragic all around," Roach said. "Those bullets are indiscriminate."

Follow Vic Ryckaert on Twitter: @vicryc