Tenn. Cop killed by 3 year old Son

[aceattaq33]

What a family tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and to all his loved ones. What a shame for such a young life.


Tenn. Cop Killed by 3-Year-Old Son

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A rookie police officer was shot to death by his 3-year-old son, who had grabbed the man's service weapon from a kitchen table.

Joshua Haffner, 22, was pronounced dead early Friday after several hours of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. He had been flown by helicopter from an airport near his home in Smyrna, about 20 miles to the southeast.

The shooting occurred late Thursday, shortly after Haffner had gotten home from his shift at Nashville's South Sector Precinct, said Sgt. Ken Hampton of the Smyrna Police Department.

``He was taking off his duty equipment and laid his gun on the kitchen table. Apparently while he had his back turned and was talking to his wife, their 3-year-old picked the gun up and shot him,'' Hampton said.

He was shot once in the upper back with the Glock .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, Hampton said.

Haffner graduated from Nashville's police academy Nov. 1 and was completing his field training.

``This is something he always talked about, being a police officer,'' Hampton said

[THEWARBABY]

While both tragic and sad, this serves as an example for others. Be responsible with and respect weapons. However unlikely it may seem that such a thing could happen, you must assume that anything is possible. Whether coming in from hunting, your security or LE job, I have never understood how a person can remove thier weapon and leave it loaded and unattended. I wouldn't leave one around my 3 week old son. Perhaps I seem cold but I have little tolerance when irresponsibility leads to something that never should have happened in the first place. It is kind like a guy shotting himself while cleaning his weapon. Hopefully, the good to come of this is for this example to be briefed in detail to all so that they wise up and do not repeat it. Of course, everyone should feel bad that this happened, just don't let the emotions cloud the root problem.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

[DelC]

Well, say what you want about not being careful or not securing the weapon, but this is one case where an external safety could have prevented this tragedy. I’ve heard of this happening before, less than 1-year ago in fact, which also happened in the south, Ga, Tn or somewhere. Officer was putting gas in his pickuup and his young son got his service weapon and shoot either his father or the gas station attendent through the rear window. This is what TV does for kids. My heart goes out to the family, especially to the wife/mother. Has to be hard for her.

[THEWARBABY]

I remember the gas station incident. True. An external safety may have prevented one or both of these. However, those safetys were absolutley not designed as a substitute for good judgement. The safety was designed as an aid for the "intended user". As an added benefit it may prevent other accident but ultimately responsibilty must be placed on the individual. If a safety is full proof why point the weapon down range at all times. I am simply very rigid in this respect as the Marine Corps simply doesn't play games. You either do it the right way or you don't do it. Complcency can sometimes be our worst enemy. I am not trying to start an argument. I am simply stating my opinion or philosophy on the subject. Many of us simply will not agree 100% on all issues.

[Fred]

This is the second officer Nashville Metro has lost within a one month period. Officer Candace Ripp a ten year veteran who was finishing law school was killed while investigating a traffic accident in early December.

[wellcraft]

These stories are sad and I hope God watches over the family left behind. God bless them and all of us on the streets.

In regards to the safety. It really has nothing to do with an external safety. It's still the person with the gun that needs to secure the weapon. If the gun did not have a external safety, they could have used a trigger lock or countless other ways to secure the service weapon. Simply putting the weapon on the kitchen table is not securing a weapon and w/ kids in the house, its a no brainer. Secure your weapons. I know its an easy habit to get into that routine of "oh, it will be fine here or there".

At any rate, its all sad and I feel bad for families that have to go through life crisis like these.