James Booher arrested in daughters death right after her funeral.

**Mom of 4** · May 7th, 2008, 05:48 PM

Indianapolis - Metro Police say they've charged a man whose young son shot and killed his daughter Sunday morning.

James Booher, 26, faces a charge of neglect of a dependent, a class C felony. He was arrested after his daughter's funeral Wednesday.

Police say Makayla Booher, 4, was shot in the face by her five-year-old brother. The boy climbed up a bookcase to get his father's gun.

James Booher told police he thought the gun was unloaded, but there was one bullet in the chamber.

Police have filed numerous reports alleging child abuse within the family, including against Makayla, who was taken to Riley Hospital for Children as an infant.

The 2004 police report "found that she had fractures to her ribs and it is listed as multiple rib fractures." The officer who filed that report noted that "Makayla's two sisters and brother were chinsed (taken) out of their residence because of alleged abuse."

The boy is in the custody of Child Protective Services, as is a teenage stepsister who was living in the house. James Booher did not live with the children's mother.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8285603&nav=9Tai

Makayla Booher

**Jaded** · May 7th, 2008, 06:13 PM

Damn...what a sweet lookin' little girl. :(
I wonder how this is going to affect her brother as he is growing up....
Sad story all around.

**Mom of 4** · May 10th, 2008, 09:03 AM

Looks like the little boy had gotten the gun before and shot a hole into the kitchen cabinets. Guess dad didn't think it was a big deal since he left the gun out again for his son to get.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A prosecutor says a 5-year-old boy who accidentally shot and killed his younger sister with his father's semiautomatic handgun had fired the gun before.

Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi says 26-year-old James Michael Booher should have been more careful in keeping the gun away from his son. He says that is true especially since the boy had taken the gun from atop a refrigerator and shot a bullet into a kitchen cabinet eight months ago.

Four-year-old Makayla Booher was shot in the head Sunday morning. Police say her brother had taken the gun from the top shelf of a bookcase.

Booher was being held in the Marion County Jail on three counts of felony neglect.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps...805697/0/Lives

**ashdavus** · May 10th, 2008, 09:08 AM

We do not keep ANY guns in our home. My husbands hunting rifle is in his Dad's gun safe and even my son's airsoft bb gun is kept in our storage and retrieved only if they're going out target shooting in the desert. Then it's right back to storage.