KARACHI:
A 10-year-old girl identified as Misbah was killed while studying at her neighbour’s house on Saturday, said the Sir Syed police.
They claim that she was murdered and have arrested two suspects. According to DSP Altaf Hussain, Misbah was at tuition at a house in Sector 11-E, North Karachi when two boys identified as Hammad, 11, and Arbaaz came in and opened fire. The DSP said that the boys had no idea the gun was real. “Hammad thought that it was a toy gun,” he said. “He took Arbaaz with him to tuition to show the toy gun to the other children.”
SHO Changaiz Khan said that according to the 15-year-old tuition teacher Rohma, Hammad used the gun twice. The first bullet hit Misbah in the head and the other one hit the ground. She said that he was nervous and confused about what had happened. The police have detained both boys. They added that Hammad’s father was abroad while Arbaaz’s father was a rickshaw driver. The body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
DSP Hussain said that it was possible that Hammad’s parents would be arrested for being negligent with a weapon in the house.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2011.
COMMENTS (9)
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This last eid the hottest selling toy in a Karachi bazaar was toy guns. I could not believe that every single child in my neighborhood was carrying a (toy) firearm and pretentiously shooting at each other. Different size guns were for sale, from a regular pistol, to Kalashnikov depending on how much eidhi you got. No wonder our society is getting redicalized.
The fact there were 2 shots from the same gun make this even weirder. After the first shot, whether it was in the head or the floor, there would be no mistaking that was a real gun. It's not so easy to pull the trigger but the kickback from the first shot alone should have caused a lot of hesitation. A 10 year old is smart enough to notice something wrong after the first shot. Maybe there are aspects before that, that are questionable. But it's very hard to say he didn't know what he was holding after he fired it the first time, even if that first time was completely unintentional.
"Toy guns" has grappled our society and has made us miserable for the world.
happens when there's a gun in every next house.
Was the gun in reach of the child?
So unfortunate. Parents of the boy who had the gun should be imprisoned for life.
What a sad news. The boys parents' should definitely be arrested. Leaving a loaded gun in the reach of children out of negligence amounts to a crime.
2 questions.. 1 How the hell boy finds a real gun ? 2- How he manages to trigger the gun, I think it requires energy to pull the trigger even by some adult...
Great mistake by parents.. These type of toys are not good for society as well..