Veronica J. Ruthledge went shopping at Wal-Mart in Hayden, Idaho, with her 2-year-old son and her nieces when she was shot and killed by her toddler. According to the sheriff’s spokesperson, Stu Miller, she had a concealed weapons permit.
Ruthledge’s son was sitting in the shopping cart when he began playing with purse grabbed the small handgun, and the gun went off.
Ruthledge, a nuclear research scientist, had just gotten the handbag which contained a compartment for carrying concealed weapons as a gift from her husband.
Her father-in-law told The Associated Press the she “was a beautiful, young loving mother, She was not the least bit irresponsible, she was taken much too soon” Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said the shooting was a “very sad and tragic accident.”
source: associated press /photo:flickr
