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Houston Police Department
Marquiez Deshon Pratt
A 4-year-old Houston boy fatally shot himself with his father's stolen handgun Sunday morning, police say.
Marquiez Deshon Pratt, 21, was asleep on the couch when his son, Jaiden, picked up the gun and shot himself in the stomach, according to a report from the Houston Police Department.
The weapon, a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, was stolen during a burglary in 2011, according to the police report.
Jaiden was spending the weekend with his father when the incident occurred. The boy's mother dropped him off every Friday and was scheduled to pick him up Sunday at noon, according to the Houston Chronicle.
After the shooting, the elder Pratt ran out of his second-floor apartment with his son in his arms, yelling to his neighbors for help, according to the Houston Chronicle.
When officers arrived, Pratt handed his son over to them and ran back to his apartment.
While some officers pursued Pratt, others performed CPR on the young victim, but the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
The officers who followed Pratt into his apartment discovered marijuana and crack cocaine along with weighing scales and other items used to sell drugs, according to the police report.
Pratt was arrested and charged with injury to a child by omission and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
"He's in mourning. He's in pain and feels a lot of self guilt," Sgt. Brian Harris, of the Houston PD's homicide department, told the Houston Chronicle. "He kept saying, 'I messed up. I messed up.'"
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This is a tragic story and one that MSN, liberals and the lapdog media will exploit just like they exploit all victims for their agenda. This is what liberals do, they hope for tragedy so that they can slobber all over the victim and use them to the evil (name the evil du jour, guns, salt, 32 oz sodas etc.) that they want to control.
Will the media ever cover the 2 million people per year that are still alive because they had a gun to protect themselves? NO...that doesn't fit the agenda and if it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead.
Just keep this in mind when mayor Banburg, Gov. Coma (D-NY), Obama, Sen. Frankenstein (Democrat from the Peoples Repuiblic of California) say no one needs a gun that holds more than 7 bullets, is a semi-automatic or is a "military style" weapon. They are all protected by security carrying "military style", semi or fully automatic and they have lots more than 7 bullets in their magazines. They just don't think you need to protect yourself.
Your hateful comment to this tragedy is exactly the type of exploitation you accuse the liberals of.
The truth is difficult but not hateful. You have difficulty with the truth because you can't refute what is happening. I started out saying it's a tragic story and I mean it. It's more tragic because it will be exploited by the liberals who want to impose their will on us and diminish our rights. It's tragic that you can't see that.
Mike - You are the kind of person who refuses to look at anything or anyone but yourself - your wants and desires. You are in a land where selfishness is the order of the day. You cannot see past the nose on your face to be concerned about anyone or anything other than yourself. It is people like you who refuse to compromise, who refuse to even look at answers and possibilities.
Take your tin hat off and your blinders off and expand your thinking!
AllPeopleRights
In that case you need to take a look at yourself. Your the one with the my way or the highway attitude. You never agree with anyone. Just condescending to every ones opinions.
wow
Hmmm, the gun was stolen in a burglary. I wonder how many background checks he went through.. Don't see too many liberals on here running their mouths.
Guilt and Pain?? He was so worried about saving his ass he left his dying son. The only reason he feels bad for "messing up" is because he knows he's going to the joint for along time. BYE BYE azzwipe
For pete's sake, people. If you have children in the house your guns need to be secured in a safe that they can't open. With freedom comes responsibility. Don't let your stupidity ruin it for the majority of gun owners who possess an ounce of common sense.
Hey. The daddy needed his gun close by just in case some other dealer wanted to steal his stash. Can't blame the daddy for protecting his stash now can you?
Another example of why guns should be illegal, with the exception of hunting equipment. What gun advocates ignore in their arguments is the ownership by NON-CRIMINALS!
They keep saying how criminals will always be able to get their hands on weapons, legal or not. That is absolutely true. It's the number of deaths and injuries by everyday citizens that is the greater problem. For every 1 gun incident related to a criminal element, there are 11 gun incidents involving friends or family, either accidental or during heated arguments, including children at play, youths horsing around, angry spouses, etc, etc. Those that own firearms for protection are eleven times more likely to end up with that weapon being used accidentally or otherwise, than in the protection of life and limb!
Alcohol should be illegal; cars that go faster that 65 mph should be illegal, Mcdonalds hamburgers and fries should be illegal, swimming pools should be illegal - where do you stop?
Like guns, they all have many proper uses but also result in many injuries and deaths.
If you're worried about saving lives, skip guns.
Look at alcohol and cars, that kill more people than guns by a wide margin.
NBC just isn't ginning up the news for that.
.
Some day you must read this interesting document called the Constitution. It has this part called the 2nd Amendment in which it says that the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed. It was not written for "hunters", it was written to prevent tyrany of government. Yes, it was also meant to help us protect ourselves, but it was primarily to assure that oppressors like Obama, Bloomburg and Feinstein could not usurp our other constitutional rights.
You admit that criminals will always be able to get guns. So how in the world am I supposed to protect myself with a hunting rifle, that shoots only one bullet, or even a shotgun, as the dopey VP has proposed (of course he wants us to shoot them in the air, guess he hasn't figured out the part about gravity yet), that only has two shells if the person breaking into my house has a revolver with 6 or 7 bullets, a semi-auto pistol with 10+ or even a rifle with multiple bullets in the magazine? Can you answer that?
The unintended consequences of liberal morons ideas are usually that innocent people are punished for being law abiding while the criminals are rewarded or are coddled.
Stop messing with our liberties unless you want to lose more of yours.
brad-3857211
Yeah because a hunting gun won't kill anyone?
Pratt stated he "messed up". Messed up is when you yell or say something hurtful to your child. What Pratt did was child endangerment that resulted in his son's death. He should be charged w/ manslaughter.
Rest in peace sweet Jaiden.
He should be charged with murder since the child was shot during the commission of a crime.
how can a mother of a 4 year old drop off her son to see his dad doing drugs and having a stolen gun for burgley she must be just as bad as him.
... and I'm sure the "father" of the dead kid could look just like BHO's son...
OK, 47%ers... this is just another reason for the US to STOP subsidizing Poor Choice. Babies having babies is a HUGE issue in this country; hey all you care about are the guns that don't do much damage. You're all just BHO's sheeple, being lead to the slaughter.
I'd scream "WAKE UP AMERICA" if it would help.. but it's clear you 47%ers really don't care...
Why no charges for having a stolen gun? A charge for having a gun laying around so a 4yo can easily get it? This POS druggie is just another liberal who in responcible for another gun death. Liberals kill, not guns.
He is messed up. Please let him mourn
Oh, look.
NBC, blaring out bad news about guns.
More of the endless drumbeating, stirring up the Party Faithful.
Today the NRA proved that Obama is being deceptive by producing a memo leaked from the Obama administration.
Good luck finding the story on NBC; it's buried under "Tech and Science"
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50940415/#.USv_XjeyLYQ
Steven B...
The media has reported stories such as this for many years, because incidents such as this have occurred for many years.
Irresponsible parenting....when I was a kid my pop kept his guns in my crib so that I could protect myself from the priest next door. At least my pop had the sense to keep my rattle on the other side of my pillow.
That is all he was charged with?
Wish all the ghetto trash pieces of $hit like this, including all the rappers like Jay Z, Kayne West, Snoop Dogg, etc. would take a very long walk off a very short pier...
The father of the dead child is at fault for not securing his stolen gun.
The legal owner of the gun is at fault for not securing his weapon causing it to be stolen.
Yeah, the guy who had his gun stolen is at fault. Maybe it's just whoever stole the gun that we could blame, and leave the victim of the theft out of it. Jeez.
what if it was stolen off of him, say at gunpoint?
How do you know that the legal gun owner left his house unlocked thus not securing his gun??
How do you know that the legal gun owner didn't have iron bars on his windows and doors thus not securing his gun?
Or securing any of her other property too? Pass a law to make it mandatory to lock your door!!!!!! Tell Biden!
How about some "personal responsibility" on the looser Father?? I know that's a stretch asking a Liberal to actually blame the person who let this kid get his hands on the gun!!! Blaming the owner of the stolen gun is like blaming McDonald's for obese people!! We ALL know who you voted for!!!!!
What is wrong with the mother ? Surely she knows what and how this husband was/is.. To leave her son with him, makes me wonder about her attitude and life style.
This guy ought to go to prison for leaving his gun, where his son could get it. What a stupid, dumb, ass.
What's wrong with America? This is what's wrong!
For the few who have chosen to bash the NRA in the posts above, please know that this organization puts firearm safety and secure storage of guns "high on their list" for RESPONSIBLE and LEGAL gun ownership........ I cannot address if the previous owner had this sidearm properly secured because it was stolen, but a young man with an illegal gun, loaded and not secured with a 4 year old child in the house is, well, guilty....... just as he is guilty of having illegal drugs present as the child could have just as easily unknowingly ingested crack and died a horrible death that way. A legal and responsible gun owner has all weapons secured all the time (not just when a child comes over) for use only by the owner as well as to frequently visit a gun range to stay familiar, safe and competent in the handling, use, maintenance, transport and storage of their guns.
Poor guy must feel terrible. I really do feel sorry for the Dad - I can't imagine how he must feel. Now, I know a lot of you law abiding folks will hate me for that statement but I do genuinely feel for the guy. God bless him and his son. If it wasn't for those damn guns this kid would be alive - time to ban the guns.
what if the child just ingested some of the crack then....... I know, we should make that illegal too, oh wait.........
He doesnt give a @!$%#. Quit feeling bad about him.
Sad, but what else is new. Same old, same old about thugs and guns.
Hunters should be put in a big forest,split in two or three teams(Blue,Orange and Yellow)and start hunting each other.That's is the trill of Killing,because killing unarmed animals ,wile they are having lunch,is not trill at all,but is only cowardly.At the end the winners can seat on the bad of their pickup, with their beers,discussing their courage.That's tough and you can make it an annual event .And to the winners the heads of the losers.
certainly AN opinion, but not really much of one..........
You my friend are a retard.
Go back to your basement. Your video games are calling and they miss you. Just have mommy bring your dinner to you. Don't forget the bucket to pee in.
Altar Boy,
Take off, I'll give you a 5 minute head start.
well , this should be a wake up call , for all the crack heads , pot smoking fools , drugs, guns ,and drinking booze and haveng kids, dont mix , and a gun
he was a thief or he got the gun from someone that took it , and he was selling dope, ok ,
meth crack, coke,pot , and a gun, and selling , the stuff,
this guy is in pain, a wake up call for him , just a little to late,
what is more important to them people on drugs or selling , there kids or there family ,
or the drug
the drug is,
it sad but true
nothing matters to them until something that is so mess up like this,
then they go to jail, they come out and what do you think , they do ,
they run right back to find that drug ,
lets hope for this guy ,its the end of his way for that stuff and he can come out get on with his life with a real job, find a church to help him,
not the street corner market , god bless the boy , im sure he was a good kid, and my condolences to there family .
sorry for more bad news, offal news
Poor little Jaiden Pratt...RIP
If the little guy hadn't shot himself, he probably would have overdosed on the drugs his dad had laying around. Poor kid....with a lowlife dad like his, he never had a chance.
His dad was certainly a low life but don't forget about the mom. She knew what was going on in that house and most likely she's doing the same sort of thing in her own house or she would have had better sense than to leave her child with the guy. Both parents were low life dead beats.