It was only days before Evangaline Gunter's fifth birthday. Via HuffPost:
A 4-year-old in Tennessee died after being shot point-blank in the chest Sunday by a woman who claimed she was teaching the girl “firearm safety,” according to authorities.
Breanna Gayle Devall Runions, 25, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Evangaline Gunter.
The child’s parents, Adam and Josie Gunter, told ABC affiliate WATE that Evangaline had been in temporary custody at a home in Rockwood, which Runions shared with girlfriend Christina Daniels and another child, a 7-year-old girl.
[...] Before the shooting, Evangaline and the older girl were being punished that morning by Runions for not waking up the women and for eating Daniels’ food without permission, according to the warrant and a statement from Russell Johnson, district attorney general for Tennessee’s 9th Judicial District. Runions struck both girls with a sandal before forcing them to stand in different corners of the women’s bedroom, authorities said the older girl told them.
It's bad enough that the leading cause of child deaths in America is now guns. But when a caretaker points a gun at a child's chest and pulls the trigger?
