this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
647 points (96.3% liked)

News

23366 readers
5506 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Warning: Article has detailed accounts of the shooting

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.

After the shooting, the women drove Evangaline to a nearby Walmart location to meet an ambulance, Roane County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Boduch told the Roane County News, and the vehicle transported the girl to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Boduch could not immediately be reached by HuffPost.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 188 points 1 year ago (6 children)

were being punished that morning by Runions for not waking up the women and for eating Daniels’ food without permission

Any time a young child is in trouble for eating someone's food, it is a huge red flag.

Any time a child is responsible for an adult's schedule, it is a huge red flag.

This article is about child abuse that lead to murder.

Tragic

[–] [email protected] 97 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The headline really fucking buried the lede. This is not a story about a firearms instructor accidentally shooting someone. This is a story about extreme child abuse.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (5 children)

What kind of legitimate firearm instructor would allow a 4 year old to hold a gun. This was always about Child Abuse.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Well, the difference would be "incompetent fire arm instructor" versus "person trying to cover up murdering a child"

[–] Buddahriffic 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or point a gun at anyone's chest and pull the trigger, knowing it was loaded or not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Just pointing the gun at anything you don’t want to kill is off the table for anyone with any gun safety knowledge.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

That's not what happened.

Runions told police that she had taken a 9 mm handgun out of its case, removed the magazine and called Evangaline over to “show her firearm safety.”

Runions pressed the barrel of the gun against the child’s chest and pulled the trigger, police said she told them.

The irony of calling this "firearm safety" is absurd. It's being charged as first degree murder because nobody points a gun at someone's chest and pulls the trigger unless they intend to kill.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

In the south? Plenty.

[–] anlumo -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Isn't the forth birthday the day children get their first firearm gifted in the US?

[–] NABDad 1 points 1 year ago

Third. You just have to wait until they're old enough that you don't have to worry about them putting the ammunition in their mouth and choking.

[–] glimse 21 points 1 year ago

Remember that story recently with the teenage girl who ran away from her abusive parents after 16 years to save her (also abused) siblings? One of the things she talked about was getting punished for the same

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Did you miss the part where it described the actual abuse? Like, you don't need to do much guessing to find out they were being abused.

Runions struck both girls with a sandal before forcing them to stand in different corners of the women’s bedroom

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Why was she

in temporary custody at a home in Rockwood

what does that even mean?? It makes it sound like she was being held there without consent, but she's a child and no kidnapping is mentioned, so who put here there? What relation was the killer to the child? Where were her parents?

[–] thesushicat 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The full article mentions the child had been placed there by a "court decision" so it sounds like the parents may have temporarily lost custody.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I appreciate the info, thanks.

That raises so many other questions though, none will help make this case any less horrible, but it just feels like so many people failed this poor child in her short life (potentially her parents, but also whoever placed her in this situation and failed to ensure her safety), but probably only one will pay (as she should, of course, in case that wasn't clear)..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

If you want a deeper look into just how child protection systems can fail so egregiously, have a watch of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. I work in child protection myself and it was eye-opening.

[–] Hazdaz 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The whole article describes a strange situation. The "adults" where mad at the kids for not waking them and eating their food. Like what is even going on over here?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Child Abuse. Child abuse is going on over there.

[–] Buddahriffic 4 points 1 year ago

Shitty people who are criminally bad at regulating their emotions.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No matter how broke we were my mom always said that if I was hungry I should eat. She firmly believed nobody could be wrong for eating something if they were hungry and I carry that with me today.

[–] anlumo -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's a dangerous road that leads to huge health problems. If I'd do that I'd be morbidly obese within a year.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That's definitely not the context or the spirit of it though lol

[–] NABDad 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think most studies have found that restricting children's food causes them to fail to develop the ability to regulate their own eating and leads to obesity in later life. It's generally considered better to avoid bringing unhealthy food into the home, but allow children to eat what what is available when they are hungry.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Same with the poor souls that were forced to clean their plates. Bad eating habits for everyone!

[–] anlumo 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it's definitely a different situation for developing children.

[–] electrogamerman 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Moral of the story: Don't have children just to have them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

They were fostering the children, I thought. But yes.