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Accident Or Homicide? Trooper Joseph Miller Shoots, Kills Pregnant Wife

Benighted

Benighted

My brain hurts
A Pennsylvania state trooper's pregnant wife and unborn child were killed Friday after a bullet fired from the trooper's gun while he was handling it in their East Norriton Township home, according to the Montgomery County district attorney's office.
Joanne Miller, wife of Trooper Joseph Miller, was rushed to Mercy Suburban Hospital where she and her unborn child were pronounced dead.
Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele said Joseph Miller, who is stationed in Skippack, was handling his personal firearm when it went off. He called 911 at about 2:25 p.m. The couple's two other children were in the home at the time of the shooting and were unharmed.
Steele said Miller has been cooperating in the investigation, which he called "a shooting incident." No charges have been filed.
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http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pregnant-troopers-wife-shot-20140308,0,5869653.story?track=rss

Now here's where it gets confusing.

DOCTORS DID all they could, but were unable to save State Police Trooper Joseph Miller's pregnant wife - or the baby she was carrying - after he shot her Friday afternoon inside their East Norriton home.
Authorities say it appears to have been an accidental discharge of his personal .45-caliber pistol.
Montgomery County Coroner Walter Hofman, who performed the autopsies, said yesterday that the baby did not respond to treatment after doctors performed an emergency Caesarean section on JoAnne Miller, who was about 22 weeks pregnant. She was pronounced dead at Mercy Suburban Hospital.
...
The manner of death for both JoAnne Miller, 34, and her baby is officially listed as homicide.

Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele said it appears that Joseph Miller fired the semiautomatic gun by accident while taking it apart to be cleaned about 2:25 p.m. Friday. The gun was not his duty weapon.
"We haven't found anything to indicate that it was not an accident," Steele said.
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http://articles.philly.com/2014-03-11/news/48087986_1_pregnant-wife-fatal-shooting-steele
 
I'll be surprised if he gets convicted. Cops tend to have a way out of things like this...:rollseyes:
 
You'd think a LEO would be more conscientious than most about checking a gun was unloaded before cleaning it, and not pointing it at people and all that stuff.
 
I'm not buying it. I don't know what he cleans his with but whatever my son uses has a very strong smell, so he has to do it in the garage or outside. If this was an accident, the trooper was incredibly irresponsible.
 
My husband has cleaned his in the house and I never knew it. The #1 rule whenever you even pick up a gun, no matter what you're doing with it, CHECK THE CHAMBER/UNLOAD IT, #2 never point it at anything you don't intend to KILL! And if you are just too STUPID to know these 2 rules then don't even think about picking it up! Just that simple.
 
If he didn't intend to kill his wife, he is a really lousy police officer. At any rate, he should be terminated from his place of employment. I knew better than this at age five.
 
cubby said:
My husband has cleaned his in the house and I never knew it. The #1 rule whenever you even pick up a gun, no matter what you're doing with it, CHECK THE CHAMBER/UNLOAD IT, #2 never point it at anything you don't intend to KILL! And if you are just too STUPID to know these 2 rules then don't even think about picking it up! Just that simple.
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I agree 100%. I also keep a couple of dummy rounds for each caliber of firearm I have. After a thorough check, I load a dummy round in the mag to make doubly sure the weapon cannot fire, even if the person I hand it over to accidentally loads one in the chamber.
At the very least, the LEO ought to be charged with negligent homicide... JUST like the rest of us.
 
BEKNIGHTED I'm JoAnnas sister and I'm wondering where the information came from where it says her and my nieces passing was ruled a homicide.. And please for me correct anyone talking about this who refers to JoAnna as *pregnant state troopers wife* she's so much more than just that
 
Ashleyanna123 said:
BEKNIGHTED I'm JoAnnas sister and I'm wondering where the information came from where it says her and my nieces passing was ruled a homicide.. And please for me correct anyone talking about this who refers to JoAnna as *pregnant state troopers wife* she's so much more than just that
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Please go back and read the article.
 
Ashleyanna123 said:
BEKNIGHTED I'm JoAnnas sister and I'm wondering where the information came from where it says her and my nieces passing was ruled a homicide.. And please for me correct anyone talking about this who refers to JoAnna as *pregnant state troopers wife* she's so much more than just that
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Here in the article: http://articles.mcall.com/2014-03-0...-pennsylvania-state-trooper-shooting-incident, will look more up for ya if you need help, alost all of it is archived but the titles all use the same phrases so you might want to talk to in state publications. Personally, being a redneck from one of the mid west southern states and around guns all my life I would have been all up on more investigation. I guess someone somewhere posted something on this case as this has been in the deep freeze a couple of years and I for one was surprised [maybe maybe not as he is le] that he got off
 
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Seems to happen often, one police chief accidentally shot himself twice, an instructor had a gun go off without touching the trigger
Just Google it


Well… this past weekend I was teaching a Firearms Instructor Bootcamp and a gun did in fact go off without anyone touching the trigger. It was the first time I’d ever seen anything like it in all of my years of teaching firearms courses.
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Ashleyanna123 said:
BEKNIGHTED I'm JoAnnas sister and I'm wondering where the information came from where it says her and my nieces passing was ruled a homicide.. And please for me correct anyone talking about this who refers to JoAnna as *pregnant state troopers wife* she's so much more than just that
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I searched high and lo. And every single article about her refers to her as being pregnant....
[doublepost=1487634466,1487634223][/doublepost]And here's the kicker.

June 07, 2014


Authorities won’t file charges against a Pennsylvania state trooper who shot and killed his pregnant wife at their suburban Philadelphia home.

A three-month investigation found that Joseph Miller’s gun went off as he tried to clean it at home in East Norriton.

The bullet struck his wife in the head. Both 34-year-old Joanna Miller and her 22-week-old fetus died.

The Montgomery County district attorney’s office concluded the March 7 shooting was negligent but accidental.
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http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/06/07/pa-trooper-cleared-in-fatal-shooting-of-pregnant-wife/
 
Ashleyanna123 said:
BEKNIGHTED I'm JoAnnas sister and I'm wondering where the information came from where it says her and my nieces passing was ruled a homicide.. And please for me correct anyone talking about this who refers to JoAnna as *pregnant state troopers wife* she's so much more than just that
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Gang, I see nothing worng with her wanting her sister to be more than just someone's wife
Sorry for your loss
 
Well, no, never mind. My theory was just proved wrong.
MILLER
JOANNA H. (nee Soppick), age 34, of East Norriton, on Friday, March 7, 2014. Beloved wife of Joseph P. Miller. Daughter of Loretta Bovell and Joseph "Jay" Soppick, mother of Liam Wiedman, Conor Wiedman, Annabel Miller and Christopher Miller. Sister of Carolyn Soppick Smith, Jeanette McCullough and Ashley McCullough. Also survived by many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend JoAnna and Gillian's Funeral Mass on Friday, March 14, 2014 at 11 A.M. at St. Titus R.C. Church, 3006 Keenwood Rd., East Norriton, PA 19403. Friends may call on Thursday March 13, 2014 from 6 to 9 P.M. at the THE MOORE, SNEAR AND RUGGIERO FUNERAL HOME, 300 Fayette St., Conshohocken, PA 19428 and Friday morning from 10 to 11 A.M. at the Church. Interment Calvary Cem., West Conshohocken, PA. Memorial contributions may be made in their memory to "Wives of Blue" for the benefit of her children, P.O. Box 41, Hatboro, PA 19040. - See more at: http://m.legacy.com/obituaries/phil...referrer=0&preview=false#sthash.F4fuZB55.dpuf
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Interesting this thread has resurfaced now as there is currently a situation in the next town over where two officers were seriously injured when one of their weapons went off while being cleaned at home.

Ashleyanna123 said:
BEKNIGHTED I'm JoAnnas sister and I'm wondering where the information came from where it says her and my nieces passing was ruled a homicide.. And please for me correct anyone talking about this who refers to JoAnna as *pregnant state troopers wife* she's so much more than just that
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One of the news articles stated it. I post stories of interest, I don't research all the media sources.
 
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