CAROLINE SPARKS - 2 yo - /Accidental shooter: Brother 5 yo - Cumberland County, KY

Five-year-old boy accidentally shoots, kills sister


By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

A 5-year-old Kentucky boy who received a .22-caliber rifle as a gift accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old sister on Tuesday, according to state police.

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The toddler was shot at just after 1 p.m. local time on Lawson’s Bottom Road in Cumberland County, police said. The girl was taken to Cumberland County Hospital and later pronounced dead.

The mother of the two children was at home at the time of the shooting, Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told the local newspaper, the Lexington Herald-Leader. He said that the family did not realize that there was a shell inside the gun. The firearm was kept in a corner, he said.

“It’s a Crickett,” Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told the paper. “It’s a little rifle for a kid.”

“The little boy’s used to shooting the little gun,” White said.

The shooting occurred while the boy was playing with the rifle, police said. It was “just one of those crazy accidents,” White told the
Herald-Leader.

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Kentucky girl, 2, fatally shot in chest by 5-year-old brother: police

Caroline Sparks was playing with her brother, Kristian, when he accidentally fired his Crickett rifle at his sister in their Cumberland County home, police said. Charges have not been ruled out in the case.

By Erik Ortiz / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, May 2, 2013, 12:00 PM

Caroline Sparks, 2, with her brother, Kristian. The boy shot his sister by accident Tuesday. Officials have not ruled out filing charges.

A single bullet to the chest killed the 2-year-old Kentucky girl shot by her 5-year-old brother clutching a “My First Rifle” — a tragic accident that could lead to charges.

Kristian Sparks shot his sister, Caroline, with a .22-caliber rifle around 1 p.m. Tuesday inside the family’s mobile home in rural Burkesville, Cumberland County. Their mother, Stephanie Sparks, was outside on the porch pouring grease out of a frying pan when she heard the gun go off, Kentucky State Police said.

A trooper didn’t initially anticipate charges being filed in the case, but said Wednesday that could change, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

“I think there is still some information that we don’t fully understand,” said Trooper Billy Gregory, adding that a grand jury could have the final say.

An autopsy on the tiny toddler was scheduled for Wednesday, with a memorial visitation set for Friday and a funeral service to be held Saturday.

Cumberland County resident Jeff Booher, 53, said learning how to use a gun is a rite of passage for many children who live in this area of southern Kentucky near the Tennessee border.


The mobile home in Cumberland County, Ky., where 2-year-old girl Caroline Sparks was shot by her 5-year-old brother, Kristian, with a gun designed for children.

He taught his three children — ages 9, 12 and 22 — how to handle a gun when they were 4 or 5.

RELATED: GIRL, 2, SHOT DEAD BY BROTHER, 5

“People learn how to shoot before they learn how to read,” he told the Daily News.

Booher, who runs a tire shop, said he knows the Sparks family and described Caroline as a “little angel.”

Since guns are such a major part of life in the area, it’s rare that someone would be accidentally killed by a firearm.

“I think people will be a lot more careful after what happened,” Booher said.


Burkesville, Ky., near the Tennessee border, is a rural area where residents say it’s not unusual for a child to learn how to shoot when they’re 4 or 5 years old.

Officials identified the single-shot rifle as a Cricket, which is produced by Keystone Sporting Arms in Pennsylvania. It sells the weapons in a variety of colors, from hot pink to brown to a swirl of red, white and blue.

Its website has a long list of testimonials from parents who talk about how grateful they are to be able to go shooting with their children. All of the guns have safety locks, and some even have ones that require a key.

The company’s phone went unanswered Thursday.
Officials said Kristian’s rifle — given as a birthday present last year — is normally kept in a corner of the Sparks' home. Although the safety lock was on, the family says they didn’t realize a shell was still inside the firearm.

In Cumberland County, as elsewhere in Kentucky, local newspapers feature photos of children proudly displaying their kills, including turkey and deer. Even one of the latest reality shows on CMT, “Guntucky,” features a family-owned gun range in Kentucky.


kett rifles are sold in an assortment of styles and colors. They’re designed for children and called, ‘My First Rifle.’

Ruby Wright, who teaches hunter safety classes in Cumberland County, said children younger than 9 can sit in, but they can’t get certification. She also coaches 4-H shooting sports, requiring those children to be 9 as well.

Cumberland County Judge Executive John Phelps said he knew the family well. He said the father, Chris Sparks, works as a logger at a mill and also shoes horses.

The family lives in a gray mobile home on a long, winding road, surrounded by rolling hills and farmland that’s been in the family since the 1930s. Toys, including a small truck and a basketball goal, were on the front porch, but no one was home Wednesday.

There’s a house across the street, but the next-closest neighbor lives over a hill.

Family friend Logan Wells said he received a frantic call telling him that the little girl was in an accident and to come quickly.


Caroline Sparks, 2, was killed on Tuesday when her 5-year-old brother, Kristian, accidentally shot her in the chest with his rifle, police said.

When he got to the hospital, Caroline was already dead. “She passed just when I got there,” Wells said.

Sharon Rengers, a longtime child advocate at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, said making and marketing weapons specifically for children was “mind-boggling.”

“It’s like, oh, my God,” she said, “we’re having a big national debate whether we want to check somebody’s background, but we’re going to offer a 4-year-old a gun and expect something good from that?”

State Rep. Robert R. Damron, a Democrat and an outspoken gun rights advocate in Kentucky, said the problem is not guns, but the parents who do not teach gun safety and responsibility.

“Why single out firearms? Why not talk about all the other things that endanger children, too?” he said. “The Second Amendment doesn’t give anybody carte blanche freedom to put children and juveniles at risk.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/single-shot-chest-killed-kentucky-toddler-police-article-1.1333069

This was not an accident. The parents allowed the young boy to have a LOADED gun WITHOUT supervision. This was preventable. Keeping the gun locked, unloaded unless properly supervised around children is responsible. These parents were not. Another little child has "accidently" killed another. William