DAYTON — Dayton Police are urgently asking for community help to stop accidental gun violence.
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Three accidental shootings in recent days, including one that was deadly, have police urging people to use gun locks or a gun safe for their firearms.
Police said 18-year-old Tayshawn Cobb died on May 22 when he and a friend, 18-year-old Manuel Perez, played with a gun while smoking marijuana. The teens each had a gun and began pointing them at each other when one gun had a bullet, and a deadly shot was fired.
“The one young man that actually took the life of his friend, I mean, he’s facing reckless homicide charges,” Dayton Police Major Brian Johns said.
As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, Johns said a gun is something that can’t be played with. Any shot that’s fired can end a life.
“Once that trigger is pulled and the bullet leaves the barrel, it’s not coming back,” Johns said.
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Police said that the fatal shooting was one of three in less than two weeks.
Another shooting happened just days later, on May 26, when an 11-year-old found a gun in his mom’s home and accidentally shot his 12-year-old brother.
Then, on June 2, two young men played around, pointing a rifle at each other while drinking. One of them loaded the gun at some point, then the pair forgot it was loaded, and one shot the other in the chest.
Both the man and the 12-year-old survived the shootings.
“You have to do a better job,” Veronica Dunson said. “I think all the kids should put the guns down because they killing each other.”
Dunson told News Center 7 that she believes owning a gun means you have to keep it out of the wrong hands.
“Most definitely a lock, a safe, put it up where it need to be or just don’t have it in your home,” she said.
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