Could this tragic story of an argument between Florida siblings that turned fatal have had a different ending? Well, that depends ...
Elena Rendell, 17, is accused of shooting her 14-year-old foster sister, Christine, in the neck as they fought over a cellphone at their home. According to police, the two siblings had gotten into an argument over the phone when Elena grabbed a 9mm handgun from a bedroom, pointed it at her sister, and fired a single shot. What happened next is heartbreaking: Elena ran out of the house shouting for help. Christine was taken to the hospital but later died from injuries from the shooting. Elena is in juvenile custody and will be charged as an adult with second-degree manslaughter with a firearm.
But there seems to be a missing piece to this story ...
Namely, where the teenager got a gun in the first place. In most states, you have to be at least 18 years of age (and in most cases 21) to possess guns, particularly a handgun. Surely, the gun belonged to an adult in the household who made it accessible to these juveniles, in which case, shouldn't he/she share some of the blame as well?
Of course, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter who the gun belonged to -- what matters is that this young woman shot and killed a family member over something as meaningless as a cellphone. It's likely she pulled the trigger in a fit of rage and not because she intended to shoot her dead. And the fact that she ran from the house trying to get help for her sister indicates she had at least some remorse. Still, the extent of the violence among teens over something so trivial is disturbing, not to mention very upsetting.
Who do you think should be blamed in this horrific story: the teen, the owner of the gun, or both?
Image via janineomg/Flickr
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Comments 147
The gun owner should share some of the blame. If you are going to own a handgun, it should be properly secured from children (including teens) in your house. I believe guns are supposed to be stored unloaded and locked up if children are in the house. I will never understand parents who just leave guns lying around, or on the top of a dresser (hello, kids can climb!), or under the seat of their car. It is irresponsible and criminal. I'm sure the parents are suffering at the loss of their daughter, but it seems like this could've been prevented. If the 17 year old had her OWN gun- that's a whole other scary situation.
Unless there are laws detailing how a gun should be stored in a house with children (which, if I'm remembering correctly, there aren't), then legally there isn't really a way to blame the gun owner. Being a gun owner myself I can say that gun was absolutely stored incorrectly. It should have been either locked in a safe or unloaded with a gun lock through it. So should the gun owner have stored his/her weapon correctly? Yes. Can we blame them? Morally, yes, but legally there isn't much anyone can do about it. Unless of course the weapon was obtained illegally but we won't go off on that tangent. Even then, the owner did not pull the trigger. The girl did.
Either way this is a tragic, tragic situation. That girl is going to have to live with that one moment she lost control of her anger for the rest of her life.
the teen, if it weren't a gun she probably would've grabbed a knife or hell even a spoon to kill the girl. it wasn't in reach, she had to go into another room to get it, she showed fore-thought, she wanted to shoot the girl and probably kill her.
17 year olds are smart enough not to point a gun at their sisters and shoot at them. Or at least they should be, so no I don't think the gun owner is at fualt how do we know that the gun wasn't in a safe and the teen knew the code to get in.
Well, I do believe that the owner of the gun should be held a bit responsible because it was easily accessed; however, believe it or not, my older sister grabbed a sharp knife (steak knife) out of the drawer one time and went after my younger sister throughout the house! Luckily no one got hurt and she didn't really stab her; but who's fault would that be? My parents because they happen to need knives to cut poultry/meat and it was in the normal spots that normal people keep them in? It would ultimately be my sister's fault because of her 'craziness and out of control' response. I mean when you think about it, a lot of things can be used as a weapon if you really want to hurt someone. I think the child had issues and obviously reacted in a way that was not a normal reaction for most kids fighting over a 'toy' so to speak.
The teen is 100% responsible. You cannot tell me that a 17 year old doesn't have reasoning skills. Stop giving excuses for what this girl did. She made the decision to pick up the gun and shoot a member of her family.
no where in this story does it say the gun was NOT in a gun safe. just saying. she was 17. she is not stupid. if we were talking about a 5 year old sure, blame the gun owner, but this WOMAN walked out of the room and instead of going away to calm down she went and grabbed the gun and SHOT her sister. the charge fits the crime. i in NO way blame the gun owners. the 17 year old is MORE than old enough to know better!