Reports: Father accidentally shoots, kills 10-month-old son in front of family

This is senseless, heartbreaking, and this father has to live with the knowledge of what he did. It is a shame, nobody should be handling any gun, where their children are or anybody's children are. I believe in gun rights, but when the second amendment was thought of and written, there was single shot muzzle loaded guns, where you had to prime the gun in order to fire it. What we have now as firearms is not what Jefferson had in mind, nor even dreamed of.




By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

A 10-month-old boy was shot and killed by his father Thursday in an apparent accident at a Nashville, Tenn., hotel, local media reported.

Two police detectives from the Hermitage Precinct were close to the hotel when the call went out and made it to the scene within about three minutes but were unable to resuscitate the child, NBC affiliate WSMV-TV Channel 4 reported.

The child's mother Jacquelin Bass, 28, and the couple's other sons, aged 3 and 2, were in the room when the gun went off, the station said.

The baby was shot once in the chest as his father, Larry Bass, 30, handled the semi-automatic handgun, the Nashville Tennessean reported.

NBC News was unable to independently confirm the accounts early Friday.

Both news outlets reported that the family, from Texas, was at the Extended Stay America hotel near Nashville International Airport when the incident happened. Larry Bass was in town to work on construction of the Music City Center, a 1.2-million-square foot convention center.

The newspaper said the family had checked in on Jan. 29.

Ten-month-old Adam Bass would have had turned 1 in May, the Tennessean reported, quoting police spokesman Don Aaron as saying that the family was "very, very distraught over what's happened" and that "the police department does not believe this was an intentional act."

Attempts to reach the police department were unsuccessful early Friday. WSMV said a police investigation was continuing.

Related:

Police: 7-year-old fatally shot by father outside gun store in Pennsylvania
Shot by sibling, police officer's daughter dies5 accidentally shot at gun shows in North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana