Charge filed against 12-year-old boy in pellet gun shooting
and Kelly Gillespie
Published: February 24, 2009
Updated: February 25, 2009
FLORENCE — A 12-year-old boy will be prosecuted in family court for shooting a 7-year-old Florence boy with a pellet gun Saturday, 12th Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements III said.
The petition to charge the boy with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature was signed Tuesday by a Florence County sheriff’s investigator and the state Department of Juvenile Justice, then turned over to the 12th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone said in a press release.
The shooting happened about 5:30 p.m. in the 200 block of Eaton Circle where several children were playing, according to sheriff’s office reports.
According to the incident report, D.J. Westbrooks was riding his bicycle in front of his home while the 12-year-old boy laid on the ground, took aim and fired.
D.J., a first-grader at Royall Elementary School in Florence, underwent open heart surgery at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence.
His father, David Westbrooks, said he might be released from the hospital by Wednesday, though he still has an IV in place. He said D.J. is doing well and was up walking around and eating Tuesday afternoon.
Westbrooks said he didn’t want to comment about the charge against the 12-year-old who shot his son. He said the most important thing is that his son is doing well.
“It was critical, very critical,” Westbrooks said in an interview Monday. “We were thinking just a little pellet wound, no big deal, but once we got to the emergency room at McLeod we realized how serious it was.”
Many people don’t understand how dangerous BB and pellet guns can be, Dr. James Baumgartner, a neurosurgeon at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, said in a 2005 interview with the university’s online publication, HealthLeader.
“People don’t realize that pellet guns and BB guns are lethal weapons. They aren’t toys,” he said. “They are weapons, and they should be treated as such.”
When one child is injured by such weapon used by another child, both children suffer, Baumgartner said.
“They sometimes feel unbearable guilt, and the child they shot feels anger,” he said. “No one walks away from this. Lives get turned upside down.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has warned that the power of some of these guns should not be underestimated and that children with “toy” guns should never be left unsupervised.
A special study by the CDC, “BB and Pellet Gun-Related Injuries,” showed that between June 1992 and May 1994, more than 47,000 children and teenagers were treated for BB or pellet gunshot wounds in hospital emergency rooms. Most were boys, children between the ages of 10 and 14, and teens between the ages of 15 and 19. Most wounds were unintentional, self-inflicted and in a home, but some were the result of an assault or suicide attempt.
Westbrooks said he doesn’t want people to lose sight of how serious this incident was. He said it’s a miracle D.J. survived.
“We just want parents to understand how dangerous a gun such as a pellet gun is for kids and not only kids, but adults as well,” Westbrooks said Monday. “Anyone that gets struck by one, it could take their life just as our son almost lost his.”
Reader Reactions
High end pellet guns can fire at speed in excess of 900ft per second. They use .22 caliber pellet. They are just as dangersous as a small caliber rifle. Yet, you can go to Walmart and buy one without a background check or waiting period. No way this child should have been allowed to have a weapon of this caliber in a residental area. Parents are just as guilty.
Me and my buddies used to pop each other with BB guns all the time. It was pre-paintball gun days FYI.
Most people don’t really think there is a difference between a BB and a Pellet… but there most defintely is!
I’m 18 years old my cousin is four she has better sense than the 12 yr old to shoot someone
Ladykatherine is right. A parent absent from the home is irrelevant. My daughter was a single mom for a long time and it is tough rearing a child without a mother or father to assist. BUT her 8 year old is well aware of the dangers of weapons of any kind because she has been taught about them. There are many single parents who have many obstacles to overcome. Their most important job should be loving and teaching their children about the dangers that must be faced in this world we live in….not just the improper use of weapons, but drug use, peer pressure and gang involvement just to name a few.
God bless both families as they deal with the consequences of this tragic event.
He shouldn’t have done this
To Tara 13: I do understand your feelings about the 12 year old and his dad. But the wife being absent from the situation does not not eliminate the procss of teaching a child with a suggesive protential weapon. I do not believe that this 12 year old was capable of knowing the capabilities nor the outcome of his shooting the 7 year old! The 12 year old has to be accountable for his bad judgement call and thinking that this was just for fun or a game!
His not having a mother in the picture does not recitfy his actions. I do not know why she is not there - but that is irrevelant to the issue now!
what a terrible tragedy that happened to this little boy. To know the boy and his family, like I do, is to know that the problem lies with parental guidance. The 12 year old should never have been allowed a gun or to play with 7 year olds. What was the poor dad to do trying to parent without his wife though. I cannot blame him. He is a man of the lord and trusted the good in people. I don’t even allow my kids to use water guns or play with gun related video games. Kids need to be taught guns are like poison, the same way you would stop a baby from drinking household cleanser. I don’t know of anything that would have helped this child more than if he had his mother back from the dark dim world she has dissappeared to. Let us all say a prayer for these families and band together to keep kids away from guns.
I must admit that I was really mad when I wrote my first response about this horrible accident. I do also believe that the 12yr. old didn’t realize the damage that could be done. I’m sure the parents as well probably didn’t realize how serious it could be either, however, ignorance is no excuse. Also, we could even say the warning labels weren’t clear enough. What it all comes down to is this, parents aren’t supervising their children the way they should. Is there an excuse for that?? Listen, I have parents that don’t want to listen to the warnings I try to give them about the dangers of not supervising them with these WEAPONS. There’s areason why you have to be 18 yr. to purchase them. Not because an eitghteen yr. old is bigger, but you must be an adult! Now, if you must be an adult to purchase them, shouldn’t you as a so called ADULT, have enough sense to realize that a projectile traveling at 1,000 fps. (feet per second be DEADLY??), but I guess that didn’t dawn on anyone, I don’t care if it’s plastic bb’s, metal bb’s, pellets, .22’s, or a cannon, is a bow and arrow a TOY?? Come on put your thinking cap on, should the child be charged, the parents should be also. This charge is one step down from attempted murder, or did you not realize that? This 12yr. old doesn’t deserve that. He’s got enough to deal with just knowing what happened and that he came so close to killing the other boy. We better wake-up!!!! Laws are put in place for our safety. Ingnorance is no excuse!
If he hadn’t “laid on the ground, took aim, and fired”, I might believe he didn’t mean to do it. But that sounds like a mean kid that knew exactly what he was doing to me. No telling how many neighborhood pets and animals were injured and killed before he went too far and got caught. I hope they punish him well and his parents worse.
I am so sorry that this occurrence happened and I express my sympathy to both families because I know that both are in pain.
My first response is to tadpole. I am glad that you disagree with me and have taken the time to question your child about a weapon. This is admirable on your part that you have taught your child well and that this child knows accountability. Some parents just ignore this part of bringing up a child. They just assume the child to know better.
I do address W.N.Lane on his thoughts.
I understand your feelings completely. But the pellet gun was not probably looked at as a weapon and was probably was purchased by the parents. They probably did not see any serious actions by their son. I would not have either! No parent would release their child with a 22 rifle. I believe that they did not view the pellet gun as a weapon! I believe that they bought this pellet gun as a toy and that is what they considered it to be! Maybe they were wrong!
I am sorry that the 7 year old has suffered from this tragic accident. But I also bet the 12 year old has suffered also.
The 12 year old should be accountable for his actions! The parents should be accountable for teaching this child with the safety and the seriousness of this pellet gun.
I just hope that this tragedy will work out for both families.
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