After what is believed to have been an accidental shooting of a 9 month old girl, police are trying to decide whether or not to pursue criminal charges. The Chesapeake Commonwealth’s attorney is being consulted to help make the decision.
Details on the case are thin, but according to Chesapeake police the girl, Makenna Rose Luman was being cared for by her parents Colton Jack Luman, 26, and Jessica Luman, 27, in a remote part of the Navy’s Northwest Annex near the North Carolina border. All that is known is that Makenna was shot while with her parents at their home in the 800 block of Warbler Court. She later died at the hospital.
A public affairs officer has stated that Mr. Luman is a Marine sergeant assigned to a training company of Marine Corps Security Force Regiment in Norfolk, Va. According to the Virginia Pilot online, Luman had a firearms permit and was licensed by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services as a guard on and off over the last four years.
Statistically, firearm deaths of children under the age of five are usually accidental. However, under Virginia law an individual who discharges a firearm inside an occupied dwelling can be charged with involuntary manslaughter. This is true even if the shooting is done without malice, as is often the case with accidental shooting deaths of children.