ABSTRACT
This grim testimonial came from a veteran detective following the fatal shooting of a young child by his mentally handicapped brother who had been left unsupervised by the children’s parents in the same house as an unsecured handgun. It was not the worst death the emergency responders had ever seen, it was not the grisliest, nor the most touch-and-go in terms of lifesaving attempts-the child had apparently died instantly from a .357 magnum round to the head. The main traumatizing effect of this call was the sheer existential indigestibility of the death circumstances: an innocent victim, even an essentially innocent perpetrator, both set up by stupidly careless adults who should have known better-there was just “no reason.”
