The Place Where Ludington Talks

Tragic Lesson for All: Lock Up, Empty Your Guns When Not in Use

A policeman's four year old son accidentally shoots himself fatally just after his dad leaves for work. There will surely be more to this story, but let it be a cautionary tale to all gun-owners who have young 'uns around the house. Deputy Mark Easter worked in the K-9 unit, and is pictured here:

JACKSON, Mich - The four-year-old son of, Mark Easter a Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy, accidentally shot and killed himself Saturday afternoon according to neighbors. The incident happened around 5pm Saturday afternoon at the family’s home on Jackson Rd. in Liberty Township.

According to neighbors, the Deputy was on his way to work when the incident happened. They believe the mother was home with the child.

Michigan State Police are handling the investigation and say it’s unclear how the boy got hold of the gun. The Jackson County Sheriffs Dept. will be bringing in grief counselors to help with the staff.

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Permalink Reply by XLFD on March 3, 2013 at 11:13pm

The latest release has Jackson County Sheriff Steve Rand saying Michigan State Police officials and Blackman-Leoni Township Department of Public Safety officers are investigating the incident.

"The deputy in question was once a Jackson City Police officer, so the sheriff's office and the city police cannot investigate it because of the conflict of interest," he said.

This is how a professional sheriff's office investigates a fatality that may have been caused by one of their own-- by NOT investigating it. Something our own sheriff's department could learn from, as it happened just a little over a year ago: http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/investigating-the-inv...

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Permalink Reply by AQUAMAN on March 4, 2013 at 9:27pm

Dovetails with the Barnett and Scotville Mayor DUI too. Conflict of interest?

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Permalink Reply by XLFD on March 4, 2013 at 11:01pm

Chief Barnett in the Scottville Mayor Baxter case did rightly turned over the investigation to the Michigan State Police. That time at least, he followed protocol.

The only update on this story so far has the child's age at three, and notes the wife was at home and contacted Dep. Easter. The gun was not his service revolver.