Parents of boy shot in Pļavnieki tragedy to appeal sentence in firearm storage case

The parents of a boy accidentally shot by his classmate in Pļavnieki, a district of Riga, are shocked by a first-instance court ruling in the case over breaches of firearm storage rules. The court sentenced an employee of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP), whose gun caused the tragedy, to two years in prison and 220 hours of community service. The victims' family considers the punishment inadequate and intends to appeal, Latvian public media LSM reported on Thursday.

What happened

Last February in Pļavnieki, two 12-year-old classmates got hold of a firearm. One boy accidentally shot the other with a weapon belonging to his father, a PMLP employee, and then shot himself in the head.

The victims' position

Raimonds Štālbergs, the authorised representative of the victims, said the family does not understand how the court weighed the public interest and the need to prevent a repeat in future. He urged the state officials responsible for monitoring firearm storage at homes to treat the matter seriously, saying the ruling sets a precedent.

The victims also asked the court to issue a separate ruling calling for a review of the responsible institutions' actions. The investigation established that the defendant had lost the spare key to the gun safe. Štālbergs believes that attention from the authorities could have affected the defendant's attitude. In his words, the man's attitude is careless and he does not grasp what he did. The family has received no apology.

Charges and next steps

The defendant has admitted guilt, and his lawyer declined to comment. He was charged under two articles of the Criminal Law: for storing a firearm and ammunition in breach of regulations, resulting in serious consequences, and for storing ammunition without a permit. Prosecutors say he held a permit for the firearm and its ammunition, but two cartridges intended for other weapons, which he had no permit to keep, were also found.

The prosecutor had asked for a prison term of three years and eight months. The Prosecutor's Office told the news agency LETA that she will study the full reasoning of the judgment before deciding whether to lodge an appeal. The defendant is also subject to a preventive measure: police supervision, a ban on leaving the country and a duty to report any change of residence.