Father Learns Hardest Lesson About Gun Safety

And he's now facing felonies.

Lights on top of a police car at dusk. The lights are flashing, both red and blue lights are visible.

This is one of the saddest stories we have heard. If the report is to be believed, a father is facing felonies after accidentally shooting his 9-year-old daughter while trying to teach her gun safety. This Indiana father, Eric Hummel, 33 years old, fatally shot his 9-year-old daughter Olivia in the head just after giving his two sons a talk on gun safety.

He says he was teaching his three children not to play with guns. The police chief’s story goes like this…Police chief Richard Zormier said the girl’s shooting death was “not just another accidental discharge” of a firearm and that the father’s actions were “heinous and depraved.”

Zormier went on to say that Hummel’s actions endangered all three children and that his actions would scar the two boys for life.

The office who responded to the call for help to the Hummel home found him kneeling next to his daughter and repeating that she’s dead and he thought it was empty. He said, “I was showing the boys the gun and told them not to ever play with it because it can kill someone. Then she walked in the room and I pointed it at her and pulled the trigger, thinking it was empty.”

Hummel says he walked into his boy’s room holding his Glock 9mm and told them never to play with the gun. He then pulled the top of the gun back. The girl walked into the room and he pointed it at her and pulled the trigger, apparently forgetting, said one of the boys, that he had put bullets in it.

The report goes on to say that there’s some indication that Hummel was intoxicated at the time of the shooting. Hummel has been charged with five felonies, according to court records, including neglect of a dependent resulting in death, battery resulting in death to a person less than 14 years old, reckless homicide, and two counts of neglect of a dependent. He faces 20 to 40 years if convicted of neglecting a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony. His first court date had not been set as of Monday, according to court records cited by the newspaper.

Folks, why do we keep repeating the mantra that you never point a weapon at anything you don’t intend to shoot? Because we want to avoid accidents like this. Never do it. Just never do it. Even if you’re joking, or even if you think you’ve emptied it. And especially not ever when you’ve been drinking.