MyWay
1 deadly day: names and lives behind gunshot stats
Mar 9, 12:12 PM (ET)
By DAVID CRARY and ADAM GELLER
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It was just past 1 a.m. when they found Christopher Cotton's body, slumped in the driver's seat at a Buffalo, N.Y., intersection, shot dead by an assailant who left all the car's windows up, the doors locked. Little more than an hour earlier, the pharmaceutical technician had joined family for drinks and YouTube videos, then went to meet his girlfriend. He never made it.
The killing of the 42-year-old father of three was the industrial city's first murder of the year. But for a country that would not wake for hours, the slaying was merely the first of another deadly day, the latest uptick in an endless count of Americans who are killed with guns.
The school massacre in
From the biggest cities to the smallest towns, more than 31,000 people die of gunshot wounds in the
The Associated Press set out to chronicle one such ordinary day - Jan. 19. There is no way of knowing exactly how many shooting deaths there were on that Saturday. But just one shooting made national news: A former pastor, his wife and three children were slain at their home near
Most, though, will recall the day as the start of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, capped by the presidential inauguration, each prompting reflection on how to quell violence. But in a nation whose citizens own more than 300 million guns, such events do not disrupt the metronomic toll of shootings.
And in that way, Jan. 19 was just another day.
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By 2:41 a.m. slumber cloaked most of the homes on tree-lined
It's not clear what prompted the younger boy to pick up the gun again. But when he pointed it at his brother and pulled the trigger, the bullet hit the
Investigators have determined the shooting was accidental. But the 14-year-old has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and investigators may present his mother's case to a grand jury.
The boy would not be the only victim of an accidental shooting on this day: Within hours, Jeffrey Dennehy, 23, died in
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At 1:04 a.m., Anthony Burns, 31, was shot dead on an
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The
The officers, who were in uniform, ordered Donovan to drop the gun.
"Why, at that last moment they said 'Freeze!' he carried on, that's what gets me, you know what I mean?" says George Fields, among a group of older men who gather at the restaurant for coffee.
When Donovan refused, one officer, a 21-year veteran, shot him in the abdomen. An ambulance rushed Donovan to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Donovan's pistol turned out to be a BB gun. The officer, who a police spokesman would not identify, was placed on administrative leave for three days, but is back on the job without being charged.
"Everybody's got a gun. Just because he's a dummy doesn't mean you have to kill him," says Fields, who wonders what might have changed both Donovan's decision and the policewoman's. "You can't stop it from happening again, but maybe you could slow it down."
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In
In
Around 2:30 a.m., Tracy McFadden, 44, was shot dead on
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Late in the morning, shots rang out near the small East Texas town of
A self-employed painter, Gonzales was separated from the mother of his four children and had come to her home to pick them up for visitation. An argument ensued, and Gonzales was shot by a man at the house, the
For some people in neighboring
"The victim's family in this new case - I can't possibly imagine how difficult it would be for them to know that someone had done this before," said Martin Braddy, the prosecutor in the earlier case, in which Wilson was charged with murdering Justin Pawlik, 27, during a 2011 struggle. At the scene was a woman who'd broken up with Pawlik and befriended
But
Pawlik's mother, Julie Bailey, said she had feared
"Now another guy is dead," she said. "If they don't get rid of that law, they better start getting ready to dig more graves."
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In
At the
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Around 12:20 p.m., gunshots erupted at the Bay Area Rapid Transit station in
One bullet struck the 50-year-old Seets in the chest, and he died within minutes in the arms of a bus driver who tried to aid him. Police said it was crossfire between members of rival gangs, and they are seeking an 18-year-old suspect.
Seets, who didn't own a car, delivered dry cleaning supplies for nearly 20 years. "I never saw him mad," said his boss and good friend, Cynthia Perez.
Raised on a farm in
He also forged a close relationship with Tammy Scott and her son, Malcolm, coaching him in sports, urging him to work hard at school.
"When Ken first came to
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Around 1:40 p.m., Leslie Stubblefield, 43, was found dead of a gunshot wound in
In
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Back for the afternoon at
The patient was a 6-year-old cherub with pigtails named Nevaeh Benson. At 1:13 p.m. she'd been at home on
By law, Edmund Benson, 23, was not supposed to have a gun. He has a felony record and has been charged with having a weapon under disability and endangering a child.
At the hospital, though, DeRoss' team knew only that they had a gunshot victim in dire condition - and that the death rate from such injuries is much higher than other types of trauma.
"I always think about what we could've done to prevent it...that's where my mind always travels to, how can we keep this from happening again," DeRoss says. "And there's not always an easy answer."
If only doctors could turn back the clock and show parents the risks, he says. If only they could save children like Nevaeh. Days later, her photo smiled alongside a newspaper notice that made no mention of how she died. "Summoned by angels," it said.
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In Mulberry,
At about 4:15 p.m., Jermaine Foster, 30, was found shot dead inside a car in
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Kristy Aschliman made a point to keep in touch with family, sometimes calling twice a day to talk about music or work. But recently, there was also talk of trouble. Four times in the past few months, Aschliman's apartment in
Just before 1 p.m., Aschliman's car swerved into the snow along semi-rural
After setting up roadblocks, Sheriff's officers arrested Adan Arroyo, 22, and charged him with murder. Investigators will not comment on his motive or relationship to Aschliman. Arroyo has a lengthy court record for vandalism, theft and other charges. At the time of her death, Aschliman was facing drug possession charges.
At a memorial service, relatives and friends filed past an open casket; they recalled Aschliman's work with disabled children, and the time she lavished styling her hair and fingernails. But there is little peace for a family that has long celebrated the April birthday Aschliman shared with her father and her closest aunt.
"It's going to be hell," her grandmother said.
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In
In
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Rene Trejo worked hard as a bricklayer in
The homecoming took place - but not as the family could have imagined. Trejo, 28, was killed in a nighttime robbery attempt on Jan. 19. His remains were sent back to
According to police, Trejo was in his car with two friends outside a Z-Market convenience store when three men approached and demanded money. One fired a shot that fatally wounded Trejo; no arrests have been reported.
Trejo, who was unmarried, came to the
Oscar's wife, Dora, said Rene was in the
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In Rosewood, Fla., John Freddrick Alford, 63, died after being hit by buckshot fired by a youth with whom he was hunting wild hogs.
At about 10 p.m., the body of Hurbert Dewayne Jackson, 27, was found on a roadside in
In
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The obituary for Kristi Suckla, as posted by a Dallas-area funeral home, is strikingly brief.
"Kristi was born on December 5, 1968, and passed away on Saturday, January 19, 2013. Kristi was a resident of Grapevine,
An accompanying video tribute, though wordless, conveyed much more - photographs of Suckla savoring vacations at the beach and in the mountains, grinning with her two children, and posing with her husband, Kelly.
There was no hint of the tragedy that unfolded that Saturday night at the Sweet 16 birthday party for the Sucklas' daughter, Rachel.
Though the couple was estranged, and Kristi was living at her parents' house with her children, Kelly Suckla had been expected to attend the party, according to police.
For reasons not yet publicly disclosed, an argument broke out around 10 p.m. Police say Kelly Suckla fatally shot Kristi with a handgun, then killed himself.
The obituary for Kelly Suckla, 43, described him as a devoted father, but made no mention of Kristi. "Everyone who knew Kelly knew of his love for his family and his friends," it said.
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Around 9:45 p.m., in
In the El Sereno community of
In Picayune,
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By all accounts, David Braswell shared a fierce relationship with Tamara Smith, his longtime girlfriend and mother of four of his children.
Police in
"They argued for the last 14 years," Nona Lee Braswell says. "It was a rocky relationship, but they loved each other."
That may be so, but when Smith's father, Clifton Gregory Dennis, heard screams inside the house he shared with the couple just after 10:30 p.m., he grabbed a .22-caliber rifle. In the hall, Dennis confronted the 38-year-old Braswell, who police say had his hands around Smith's throat. Dennis fired two shots. The first struck the wall near the ceiling. The second hit Braswell in the chest as the children watched.
Dennis, 56, is barred from owning a gun because of a felony record dating to 1987. When he faced drug charges in 2004, he was also convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon. Braswell's death brought another wrongful gun possession charge and Dennis pleaded guilty March 7 and was sentenced to 15 to 27 months, requiring six months in prison and three years' probation. But investigators determined the killing was justified as self-defense or the defense of others.
That decision angers Braswell's family, but they're trying to focus on caring for his sons and daughters.
"God love little children who have to go through stuff like that," said Braswell's aunt, Zondra Ayers.
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Around 11:40 p.m., 20-year-old Ruben Gonzalez Jr. was shot dead in
In
The call came in around midnight.
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David Crary and Adam Geller can be reached at features(at)ap.org. Follow Geller on Twitter at . Follow Crary on Twitter at .http://twitter.com/AdGellerhttp://twitter.com/CraryAP
