A Stark County, Ohio grand jury has indicted 47-year-old Erin Barker on a tampering with evidence charge following a June 19 shooting in Alliance that left 15-year-old Kennedy Wise dead. Police say Barker’s 14-year-old son used her gun in the shooting, then removed it from the scene and told his mother the death was a suicide. According to investigators, Barker returned the gun to the home and did not tell officers she had done so. She is scheduled for arraignment on Oct. 2.
The boy later admitted to police that he accidentally shot Wise in the head, and it was not a suicide. He has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and remains in juvenile detention while that case proceeds separately from his mother’s.
For families across the Suncoast and everywhere else, the case raises two uncomfortable questions that don’t have easy answers: how securely are firearms stored in homes with kids, and what happens in the frantic minutes after a tragedy when someone chooses not to tell the full story? Investigators say that second decision cost them time and put the case on the wrong track from the start.
What do you think? Should parents face charges when a minor uses their firearm in a crime? Tell us in the comments.
