A shocking incident has been reported in the United States as a man in Ohio shot dead his own 16-year-old daughter after mistaking her for an intruder, local police said Thursday (December 30).
As per the media reports, the incident happened around 4:30am (local time) on Wednesday at a home near Canal Winchester on Piper Bend Drive.
Police informed that her mother called the emergency services after the incident and reported that her daughter was lying on the floor of their garage. She mentioned that her father mistook her for an intruder and shot her.
As per a report published by a local newspaper The Columbus Dispatch, the parents were furious and could be heard frantically begging their daughter to wake up. The newspaper is believed to have obtained a recording of the call.
The girl named Janae Hairston was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead around 5:40am.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to her family and our thoughts, prayers, and support are with them. We are saddened by this tragic loss and will make every effort to help students and families cope,” said Hairston’s school district, in a note to parents published by the local press.
On December 7, three other people – aged six, nine and 22 – were killed in the same area about a kilometre away from where the shooting incident happened on Thursday.
The reports have mentioned that the two youngest victims were students in the same school district as Hairston in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio’s capital.
Gun violence in US
The newspaper mentioned that 2021 was on track to become one of the deadliest years in the city’s history for shootings and homicides.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence has risen sharply in the United States, where gun rights are a hotly debated issue, but largely protected by the constitution.
According to the site Gun Violence Archive, more than 44,000 people have been killed by guns in the United States this year, including suicides, of which 1,517 were minors.
(With inputs from agencies)
