Mom, boyfriend charged with shooting 5 children with Airsoft guns as punishment
NEW CASTLE, Ind. (WISH) — A mother and her boyfriend have been charged with neglect and abuse after shooting five children with Airsoft guns as punishment, court documents say.
The two were each charged with five counts of neglecting a dependent, and five counts of domestic battery with bodily injury of a person under the age of 14.
Court documents say police were contacted Dec. 21 by Indiana Department of Child Services about a complaint from a nurse at New Castle Middle School. The nurse told police one of the children had bruises on the feet and back.
Police later spoke with the mother and the boyfriend.
The mother told police that she disciplined the children by making them do “wall sits” five minutes at a time. She denied shooting the kids.
She also told police that the kids play with Airsoft guns and shoot each other, and that her boyfriend doesn’t discipline the children.
The replica toy guns fire spherical projectiles, sometimes called BBs, that are typically made of plastic or biodegradable resins.
The boyfriend, however, told police that, since April, he’d used Airsoft guns to discipline and shoot the children.
The mother also told police that the kids have had behavioral struggles since their dad died in October 2021 from COVID-19. One of the children told police that they go “airsofting” every weekend to cope with their dad’s death.
Police interviewed the five children, who helped confirmed the abuse.
News 8 is not identifying the two people charged with the crimes to protect the children’s identities.
