Toddler Shoots Mother Dead in Walmart
A nuclear research scientist in Idaho was shot dead by her two-year-old son in a Walmart store.
Veronica J Rutledge, 29, was shopping with her toddler and other family members when te incident took place. The young mother had placed her son in the shopping cart while she was busy shopping. The boy reached the pistol which was concealed in the woman's purse and pulled it accidentally, shooting his mother dead, Fox News reports.
The victim is a native of Blackfoot south of Idaho and was visiting Hayden for the holidays. She had gone shopping at Walmart in Hayden around 10:20 am (EST) on 30 December, 2014. Rutledge and the children were in the electronics section when the shooting occurred.
Hayden is a town about 40 miles northeast of Spokane in Washington. The Walmart store closed after the shooting, is not expected to reopen until Wednesday 6.00 am (EST).
"A very sad incident occurred at our store today involving the death of a female customer. We are fully cooperating with the Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies as they investigate this matter," Walmart said in a statement on Tuesday.
Investigators are studying the scene at present. Eyewitnesses and video surveillance from the store confirm that the shooting was accidental.
The nature of gun laws in the United States has been the subject of debates time and again, especially since there is a lack of clear federal court rulings defining the right to keep and bear arms until recently. Advocates for gun control see the individual right to bear arms for self-defense as an excuse for handing out guns and increasing crime in communities.
