Warning: Article has detailed accounts of the shooting

Breanna Gayle Devall Runions, 25, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Evangaline Gunter.

The child’s parents, Adam and Josie Gunter, told ABC affiliate WATE that Evangaline had been in temporary custody at a home in Rockwood, which Runions shared with girlfriend Christina Daniels and another child, a 7-year-old girl.

Before the shooting, Evangaline and the older girl were being punished that morning by Runions for not waking up the women and for eating Daniels’ food without permission, according to the warrant and a statement from Russell Johnson, district attorney general for Tennessee’s 9th Judicial District. Runions struck both girls with a sandal before forcing them to stand in different corners of the women’s bedroom, authorities said the older girl told them.

After the shooting, the women drove Evangaline to a nearby Walmart location to meet an ambulance, Roane County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Boduch told the Roane County News, and the vehicle transported the girl to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Boduch could not immediately be reached by HuffPost.

  • Honytawk
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    1 year ago

    Maybe.

    But it does tie into the notion that mentally ill people shouldn’t be allowed to own guns.

      • ZzyzxRoad@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Exactly. Plus it just further stigmatizes people with actual mental illnesses by constantly associating them with the absolute worst dregs of society. Why is it so hard for people to understand that there’s a wealth of sadistic, selfish, and unfathomably stupid people out there in the world, and none of those things automatically equate to mental illness.

      • havokdj@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        People who are in danger of themself and those around them already cannot legally own firearms.

        If you are suicidal or have a history of violence related to mental illness, you legally cannot have one already.

        I actually agree with the other guy quite a lot. It is something that would be abused rather than followed.

        • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          That’s what I was getting at too, he just expounded on the stigmatization of “mentally ill” being related to stuff like this, which I hadn’t considered. We all three agree though it seems, imo it’s one of those “I mean yeah it sounds good on the surface but it doesn’t hold up to scruitanty” things.

    • shastaxc@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      She would’ve found some other way to kill the child, like suffocation.

      • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Takes a lot more effort and intent. Guns take all that away with a single finger pull.