Detectives say he fired random shot that went through 8-year-old’s thigh
Wayne Snowden
An 8-year-old boy is recovering from an apparently random gunshot wound to his thigh in North Coventry Township, and the alleged shooter is in custody, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan and North Coventry Township Police Chief Bob Schurr announced.
Wayne Snowden, 55, of Pottstown, has been charged with aggravated assault and related offenses for shooting the young boy while he was riding his bicycle in the area of West Main Street and Coyne Alley in North Coventry Township on Friday, May 9, a news release from the District Attorney’s Office said.
“An 8-year-old boy out riding his bike with a buddy on a warm spring evening in Chester County should not have to worry that he is going to be shot,” said Hogan. “The defendant was extraordinarily reckless. The right to own firearms includes the responsibility to handle firearms safely. We are all grateful that this innocent child was not killed just a couple of days before Mother’s Day.”
Schurr agreed, adding that he wanted “to reassure the community that the victim in this case was not specifically targeted, this was a case of irresponsible gun handling in its most tragic form.” He said he appreciated the support of neighbors, the victims and their families as well as the diligence of investigators.
The shooting occurred a little before 5 p.m., and when police arrived, Snowden, who had been in the vicinity, retreated to his residence, which faced the area where the boy was shot, the criminal complaint said. The boy was flown by helicopter to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was treated for a “through and through,” gunshot wound to the left upper mid-thigh, meaning that the projectile had passed entirely through the wounded limb, the complaint said.
Police investigation and witness interviews revealed that the shot came from the area of Snowden’s residence and that he had been on his porch with a black Glock handgun in his hand, the complaint said. Police recovered two handguns from Snowden’s residence, one of which expelled a spent 9mm casing when a county detective racked the weapon’s slide, the complaint said.
Hogan said the case represented “a model response for reacting to an emergency situation involving a child,” and he praised the work of the North Coventry Police Department, the Chester County Detectives West Pottsgrove Township Police, Goodwill Ambulance, PennSTAR, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Guns have become a cultural symbol of a sick society that places little or no value on human life. A gun is a tool that was specifically designed to kill others and as such becomes a problem in and of itself. The role of guns in society does play an important part in driving its citizens to commit murder. It is a murder tool whose prevalence and easy access clearly implies some degree of acceptability for its use to kill someone. Take away all the guns and not only will murder become far more difficult to commit due to a lack of the tool that makes murder so easy, it will also take away the implied social acceptability of such acts. And the more gun violence decreases the less acceptable it will become thus driving even further decreases and so on. Please use you vote to remove all NRA polity supporters from office. You have the power to make our streets and neighborhoods safer. Use that power. We all have a responsibility if not for ourselves then for our kids.