Carbon
27th August 2010, 11:14 AM
Delaware crime: Seaford boy, 3, blasts firehouse with shotgun
Window and door struck, no one injured
By TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal • August 27, 2010
A 3-year-old Seaford boy grabbed a shotgun from a closet Wednesday, walked out on his porch and fired at a firehouse across the street, hitting a garage window and a roll-up door, police said.
Though no one required medical treatment, the boy suffered two minor cuts to his left index finger.
"He could have killed himself, anybody walking by and if anybody was in the firehouse, it could have killed them," said Seaford Police Capt. Gary Flood. "It's unbelievable."
The child's mother, 18-year-old Christy A. Smullen, was charged with reckless endangering and five other offenses while the boy was placed in his father's custody, said Lt. Richard Jamison, a police spokesman.
"I got my charges, I'm probably going to be locked up, and that's it," she said, declining to comment further as she stood on the wraparound porch where police say her son fired the shotgun a day before.
A blue stroller sat empty in the front yard, as the lyrics of an Eminem song were heard from an open window.
Cannon Street is a quiet avenue just off Seaford's downtown thoroughfare, High Street, and just a few blocks from City Hall. Its older, stately houses have mostly been taken over by businesses -- an appraisal firm, a property management company, a CPA, a temporary agency -- and only a handful of residences remain. St. John's United Methodist Church sits at the end of the street where Cannon intersects Poplar.
The shot was fired about 2:10 p.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of N. Cannon St. and struck the Seaford Volunteer Fire Company at 302 E. King St., which is on a corner across from the boy's home.
Officers were called after a firefighter reported the building was being fired on. They said the boy apparently took a .410-gauge shotgun and loaded it with several rounds of .38-caliber ammunition.
"This young child picked up the shotgun, shoved some bullets in it and was able to fire," said Ron Marvel, the fire company's spokesman. "When he did, one of the bullets went through the door and one went through the window."
http://cmsimg.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20100827&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=8270351&Ref=V2&Profile=1006&MaxW=180&Border=0
Christy A. Smullen, 18, was charged
with reckless endangering and five
other offenses.
Window and door struck, no one injured
By TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal • August 27, 2010
A 3-year-old Seaford boy grabbed a shotgun from a closet Wednesday, walked out on his porch and fired at a firehouse across the street, hitting a garage window and a roll-up door, police said.
Though no one required medical treatment, the boy suffered two minor cuts to his left index finger.
"He could have killed himself, anybody walking by and if anybody was in the firehouse, it could have killed them," said Seaford Police Capt. Gary Flood. "It's unbelievable."
The child's mother, 18-year-old Christy A. Smullen, was charged with reckless endangering and five other offenses while the boy was placed in his father's custody, said Lt. Richard Jamison, a police spokesman.
"I got my charges, I'm probably going to be locked up, and that's it," she said, declining to comment further as she stood on the wraparound porch where police say her son fired the shotgun a day before.
A blue stroller sat empty in the front yard, as the lyrics of an Eminem song were heard from an open window.
Cannon Street is a quiet avenue just off Seaford's downtown thoroughfare, High Street, and just a few blocks from City Hall. Its older, stately houses have mostly been taken over by businesses -- an appraisal firm, a property management company, a CPA, a temporary agency -- and only a handful of residences remain. St. John's United Methodist Church sits at the end of the street where Cannon intersects Poplar.
The shot was fired about 2:10 p.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of N. Cannon St. and struck the Seaford Volunteer Fire Company at 302 E. King St., which is on a corner across from the boy's home.
Officers were called after a firefighter reported the building was being fired on. They said the boy apparently took a .410-gauge shotgun and loaded it with several rounds of .38-caliber ammunition.
"This young child picked up the shotgun, shoved some bullets in it and was able to fire," said Ron Marvel, the fire company's spokesman. "When he did, one of the bullets went through the door and one went through the window."
http://cmsimg.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20100827&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=8270351&Ref=V2&Profile=1006&MaxW=180&Border=0
Christy A. Smullen, 18, was charged
with reckless endangering and five
other offenses.