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A Glock 19 handgun, the same model used in the accidental shooting. Alamy Stock Photo

Two-year-old boy accidentally shoots and kills father in Florida

Such tragedies are not uncommon in the United States.

A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy accidentally shot and killed his father in Florida after his parents left a loaded gun unattended, local authorities have said.

When police officers, alerted by a 911 call, arrived at the victim’s home near Orlando on 26 May, they found the child’s mother Marie Ayala providing CPR to her husband, Reggie Mabry.

Law enforcement initially believed the 26-year-old, who died shortly afterward in hospital, had shot himself, but the eldest of the couple’s three children later told investigators that the trigger was pulled by his two-year-old brother, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference.

The gun was in a bag that Mabry had left on the ground and the child came across it and shot his father in the back while he was playing a video game on a computer, court documents said.

The five family members, including a five-month-old girl, were in the same room at the time of the incident.

Both parents were on parole at the time after multiple offenses of child neglect and drug use, the sheriff said.

“Gun owners that do not properly secure their firearms are just one split second away from one of these tragedies happening in their homes,” Mina said.

“Now these young children have effectively lost both of their parents. Their father is dead. Their mother is in jail, and a young child has to live their life knowing that he shot his father,” the sheriff added.

Such tragedies are not uncommon in the United States.

In August 2021, another two-year-old child found a gun that had been left in a Paw Patrol backpack and fatally shot his mother in the head while she taking part in a video conference.

The latest accident also comes as the debate over gun regulations rages in the country, after several deadly mass shootings in a supermarket, hospital and primary school, among others.

© – AFP, 2022

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    Mute Roger Bond
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    Nov 19th 2021, 8:13 AM

    Poland were correct to make a stand.
    Hopefully other countries will follow.

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    Mute Calvin James
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    Nov 19th 2021, 10:43 AM

    @Roger Bond:
    If an asylum seeker arrives at a border they have the right to apply for asylum there. Sticking them on a plane to Iraq is a pushback which is breaking international law

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    Mute Mick Murphy
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    Nov 19th 2021, 11:26 AM

    @Calvin James: absolutely! They could seek asylum in Belarus. If that isn’t good enough then they’re not really that bothered about getting out of Iraq but more concerned with getting into EU which is completely against the spirit of asylum.

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Nov 19th 2021, 11:27 AM

    @Calvin James: That doesn’t apply at the border but within, and the plane wasn’t in Poland but in Belarus.

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    Mute John fitzpatrick
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    Nov 19th 2021, 10:31 AM

    Why don’t migrants go to a extremely rich Middle East countries with the same culture.
    With not as far to travel.

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    Mute Roy Dowling
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    Nov 19th 2021, 7:58 AM

    If the western countries minded their own business and didn’t intefere with middle Eastern countries this wouldn’t happen.

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    Mute Zack Twamley
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    Nov 19th 2021, 8:18 AM

    @Roy Dowling: what does that have to do with the Polish Belarusian border?

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    Mute Bugaloo
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    Nov 19th 2021, 8:32 AM

    @Zack Twamley: Even our cat understood what Roy said, and we don’t even have a cat.

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    Mute Colin Keogh
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    Nov 19th 2021, 9:08 AM

    @Bugaloo: lmao

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    Mute Crypto_Dav
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    Nov 19th 2021, 8:40 AM

    What the hel middle East people are doing between Belarus Poland border? Is it a coup from Belarus or Russian??? Come on wake up people!?we have mass migration en route to Europe

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    Mute RZ
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    Nov 19th 2021, 9:57 AM

    @Crypto_Dav: They have been lured by regime-organised fake advertisement campaigns offering to work in the EU. These people are not even refugees, just poor and desperate families.

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    Mute Rafal Kostrz
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    Nov 19th 2021, 8:10 AM

    Roy Dowling 100 % agree

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    Mute andrew
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    Nov 19th 2021, 5:26 PM

    Back in their homes countries we can add Belarus to Greece, Spain, Lampedusa and Calais when it comes to migrant entry points into Europe.

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