Stupid, Tragic, or Malicious?
August 16, 2004
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Posted by Aubrey Turner
Something about this story just seems fishy to me.
A 5-year-old girl was shot and killed Sunday after her stepfather mistook her for a burglar, police said.
Alejandra Hernandez, who was shot in the chest with a single bullet, was taken to a Houston hospital, where she died.
Police said Agun Ortega Pina, 25, told them he heard suspicious noises and reached for his gun about 1 a.m. He shot when someone tried to open the door of the bedroom where he and his wife were sleeping.
First of all, with a small child in the house he had a responsibility to ascertain where the child was before shooting. But what bugs me most is the shot placement. If the news report is correct, he shot the girl in the chest. Given that a five-year-old girl wouldn’t be very tall, he’d have to have either missed really low or at least registered in his mind that his target was very short when aiming for center mass. If the latter, then he should have recognized that it was the little girl and held his fire.
Perhaps this really was a terrible accident, caused by the step-father’s failure to identify his target. But I really wonder if there isn’t something more to all of it.
Categories: What the heck?
Something definitely is either fishy, or a poor job of reporting (possibly the same thing). IF the man heard a noise, rolled over in bed, picked up the gun, twisted (still laying in bed) and fired, then chest height is about right from laying in bed.
Not sitting up or leaping to your feet in all this? Suspicious. Not, even in dim light at xx am registering a small target form? Suspicious. Stepfather… assuming he and the mother are married… article leaves out a number of details….