Veronica J. Rutledge, 29, was shopping with her son and three other children, Kootenai County sheriff's spokesman Stu Miller said. Rutledge was from Blackfoot in southeastern Idaho, and her family had come to the area to visit relatives.
She had a concealed weapons permit. Miller said the young boy was left in a shopping cart, reached into his mother's purse and grabbed a small-caliber handgun, which discharged one time.
Deputies who responded to the Wal-Mart found Rutledge dead, the sheriff's office said.
"It appears to be a pretty tragic accident," Miller said.
The victim's father-in-law, Terry Rutledge, told The Associated Press that Veronica Rutledge "was a beautiful, young, loving mother."
"She was not the least bit irresponsible," Terry Rutledge said. "She was taken much too soon."
The woman's husband was not in the store when the shooting happened at about 10:20 a.m. Miller said the man arrived shortly after the shooting. All the children were taken to a relative's house.sad as it is was she really without any responsibility? she left a loaded gun off safety in reach of a 2 year old, not to mention anyone who might try to take the purse obviously sitting up in plain sight what is the potential of that, this should be a teaching point about safety while you carry concealed weapons. i wonder why the kid took that out of whatever else might have been in that purse was it on top or had the kid seen it handled and remembered, or just a shiny object?
we have come full circle from adults killing adults to kids killing kids to kids killing their parents if this is not the time for gun regulation when will it be when only two people are left? NRA is okay they still get to keep the guns even the ones buried by the bodies of their victims.
