A 70-year-old grandfather was shot and killed by a teen after the man’s granddaughter had snuck into the house, according to reports.
Jamie Mintz, a Vietnam War veteran, was killed inside his Detroit home on Monday, April 9, by a 16-year-old boy the man’s granddaughter had invited over to the house, family members said, according to WXYZ.
Mintz got into an argument with the teenage boy, Fox2 reported and asked him to leave.
A scuffle over a firearm ensued, WXYZ reported, during which the gun discharged, striking the elderly man in the chest.
The teenage boy has not been identified by name, but the news outlet reports he was the granddaughter’s boyfriend.
The suspect fled from the scene with the gun and remains at large.
Unfolding on #Detroit’s west side…police searching for a 16 year old boy who allegedly shot and killed a 70-year-old army veteran. His granddaughter apparently managed to sneak the boy into the house. I’m live on @WWJ950 at 8:10. Listen live https://t.co/rjkMApPyfq pic.twitter.com/l8E1osbCbW
— Vickie Thomas (@VickiethomasWWJ) April 8, 2019
‘Didn’t Want to Leave’
Family members told Fox2 the granddaughter lives with Mintz.
Mintz’s niece Unite Clemons told WDIV that Mintz “asked the young guy to leave.”
“He didn’t want to leave and unfortunately he shot him,” she said, according to the report.
“He got shot three times,” she said.
“It’s family. You don’t even have no words,” she added. “There’s no words.”
Family: 70-year-old man fatally shot after granddaughter snuck boy into the house. https://t.co/lbB0usgCQf
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) April 8, 2019
Child Shoots Mom With Shotgun
The incident recalls the recent case of a young California boy who accidentally shot his mother in the torso with a shotgun.
Los Angeles County authorities made an arrest after a boy less than 5 years old shot and wounded his mother with a shotgun that had been left in a car.
#GUN #SAFETY TIPS
Always store unloaded
Use trigger or cable lock
Store in locked container (safe, cabinet, vault, etc.)
Store ammo separatelyTalk to your #children about guns and gun safety.
If you have unwanted firearms, turn them in (unloaded) to us for destruction.#LASD pic.twitter.com/AjwSCibv5Y
— LASD Norwalk Station (@NorwalkLASD) January 24, 2019
The sheriff’s department said 24-year-old Brandon Ambriz of Norwalk was in custody on Jan. 24, 2019, on charges of a parole violation, illegally possessing a firearm, and child endangerment, according to The Associated Press.
UPDATE – WOMAN SHOT BY CHILD
The woman remains hospitalized, listed in stable condition. Four children placed in care of #DCFS. Male suspect arrested yesterday for various felonies, incl. a warrant, #criminal storage of a #firearm and #ChildEndangerment. #LASD #Norwalk pic.twitter.com/K52tTzM6b6— LASD Norwalk Station (@NorwalkLASD) January 24, 2019
Authorities said the mother, another woman, and four children were in a car on the afternoon of Jan. 23, in a preschool parking lot in Norwalk when the boy discharged the firearm from the backseat.
The blast went through the driver’s seat and hit his mother in the torso.
Police arrested Ambriz on the same day as the shooting.
The four children were placed in the custody of county child welfare workers.
Accidental Shootings
Far fewer Americans fall victim to firearm accidents than some two decades ago, even though people own more guns, according to new data.
Accidental firearm discharges killed 486 people in 2017, down more than 50 percent since 1997, according to mortality data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Meanwhile, gun sales increased more than 80 percent between 1999 and 2017, according to The DataFace, a San Francisco data analysis company, which based its estimates on FBI background check data.
Gun Locks
There has also been a prominent push for the safe storage of guns.
Gun makers have partnered with law enforcement for a nationwide education drive called Project ChildSafe that has distributed over 37 million gun locks. But that project only started in 1999, while the decline in accidental death rates started decades before, dropping about fourfold between 1974 and 1999, according to the CDC and the National Safety Council nonprofit (pdf).
Epoch Times reporter Peter Svab contributed to this report.
