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Parents teach children about gun safety after deadly accident at apartment complex

6 years 10 months 2 weeks ago Sunday, May 07 2017 May 7, 2017 May 07, 2017 10:44 PM May 07, 2017 in News
Source: WBRZ
By: Earl Phelps

BATON ROUGE - Over the weekend, a mother mourned the loss of her 13-year-old son after he was shot and killed at a Baton Rouge apartment complex.

"He was the life of the house. He was a good kid," Anita Barthelemy said.

Family and friends gathered to console Barthelemy after her son was killed Friday, in an accidental shooting.

"I saw when the ambulance and the cop came and they told me someone had got sick back there an then I had weird feeling," Barthelemy said. "But then my son came two hours later, my baby son. And he told me, 'ma, it's my brother that got shot.'"

EBRSO says 13-year old Zion Barthelemy died after being shot in the head while he and two friends were playing with a loaded gun at the Mallard Crossing apartment complex.

One of Zion's friends had taken the gun, without permission, from his stepfather. The 12-year-old and 13-year-old friends are now in juvenile detention facing charges.

Some other parents are now using this as an opportunity to teach their children about gun safety, as to avoid another tragedy like the one that occurred on Friday.

Cynthia Johnson is target practicing at the FRC gun range, where she took a gun safety class. She's now teaching her 17-year old son everything she has learned.

"If he knows how to used the gun properly there won't be any accidents. I think that's one way of of making sure he's safe," Johnson said.

The manager of the gun range, John Hanchey, says educating your child about gun safety is better than any gun lock a parent can buy.

"We have far, far too many of these incidents where young children find a gun and end up shooting their sister or their friend."

Hanchey says no preventative measure will ever be fully effective if you don't consistently talk to children about the dangers involved with firearms.

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