Teenage Daughter Shoots and Kills Abusive Father to Save Mother and Siblings
This story is somewhat of a list of all the wrong things to do with concealed carry and gun ownership in general. It involves keeping a weapon in reach of children, threatening innocent people, abuse and power games with the gun, as well as the enacting of vigilante justice. All of that being said, the question must be asked.
14-year-old Bresha Meadows of Warren, Ohio is currently sitting in the Trumbull County family court on a charge of murdering her father, 41-year-old Jonathan Meadows. However, Bresha’s family does not see her as a cold-blooded killer, rather as a hero who was defending their lives against an abusive monster that was their father.
There have been several cases throughout time that mirror this issue. Children growing up in extremely tough, abusive, household filled with dangerous conditions. And, when the system fails to correct it or someone is too afraid for their safety to do something, as was the situation in this case, in which Bresha’s mother attempted, but later rescinded a protective order five years ago against Jonathan, matters can be taken to a state in which protection is of the utmost importance, no matter the cost.
That is what happened here. “She is my hero; I wasn’t strong enough to get out and she helped me,” said Bresha’s mother, Brandi, after learning of her daughter shooting her father with his own concealed carry handgun in the morning hours of July 28. Brandi called the authorities immediately after the shooting, but has not given a moment of anything but thanks to Bresha for getting her out of an abusive situation. Family members say the father often threatened them with that very gun. “Using that gun around the house, to intimidate, everyone in the home was terrified.” Ian Friedman, the girl’s attorney said.
This is a situation that is the epitome of what not to do when you are given the responsibility of owning a gun. Jonathan Meadows was an abusive man who happened to have a concealed carry permit, and used that power to lord over his family in an abusive totalitarian style. He did not use any semblance of safety for the power he had with this gun, and in the end, his unwillingness to be protective with his firearm brought about his demise.
That being said, Bresha Meadows is a young girl with no knowledge of when and how to use a gun, and her family should not have let this situation get to what it did. However, Bresha’s situation is reminiscent of why many of us carry a weapon to begin with. We want to be free from intimidation and the threat of violence. However if anyone is in this exact situation, know that there are alternative ways to come to a solution. Speak to the police. Tell someone. Find a way to escape. There are times to use lethal force and times not to, and the fact that a minor with no gun training had to take the step she did, speaks both to the failure of the father/gun owner.