SEATTLE (AP) — The father of a girl who was shot after a 9-year-old boy brought a gun to his elementary school in Washington says the state failed his daughter.
John Bowman says the boy shouldn’t have been allowed to visit his mother, a woman whose parental rights were terminated and had a crime and drug abuse history. She is accused of leaving guns unsecured around her home.
The boy’s legal guardian is his uncle. The state says he has discretion over the boy’s visits.
Officials and experts say the state no longer had a role to play. National Coalition for Child Protection Reform president Richard Wexler says legal guardians have the same rights as adoptive or biological parents.
