Father says son who took gun to school 'made a bad mistake'
The 9-year-old boy who took a gun to a Bremerton elementary school Wednesday and wounded a classmate was charged and appeared in court Thursday.
PORT ORCHARD — The pale 9-year-old walked into the Kitsap County Juvenile Court on Thursday, looking dazed in his orange jumpsuit. There was a television camera in one corner; reporters filled nearly half the seats.
Police say that on Wednesday, he took a loaded gun to a Bremerton elementary school, and that it went off in his backpack just before the final bell rang. The routine of third grade — school, homework, play — had changed in a split second.
Now a classmate, 8-year-old Amina Kocer-Bowman, lies in intensive care, with a .45-caliber bullet wound to her arm and abdomen. She'll likely be there several more weeks and have several more surgeries, her doctor said.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... on24m.html
There seems to be a whole bunch of "bad mistakes" in this story....
When he was 2 ½, police found methamphetamine and syringes in his mother's belongings, court documents say. Later that same month, the mother was charged with forgery after trying to cash stolen checks. She was later convicted.
When he was 3 ½, the mother was charged with selling marijuana out of a Kitsap motel. By this point, she had four children, according to court records. Meanwhile, the father was convicted of domestic violence for assaulting the mother. He later violated the protection order. He repeatedly failed to pay child support and was held in contempt.
Three or four years ago, they both relinquished their parental rights. The boy and two siblings were adopted by their paternal grandmother. In 2010 the grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Within months, she was dead.
In January 2011, their uncle was appointed the three children's legal guardian. At the time, court records state, the children were all doing well in school.
The judge wanted to know Thursday if the uncle could be responsible for the boy. The boy, his siblings and their father all live with the uncle.
"Right now I'm not working," the uncle said. "He'd be with me all day, every day.”