Little Girl Blasts a big snake.....

Ocala Star Banner Article
This is an article that was published in the paper....quite disturbing....I have looked up some info on the AP office in richmond....
Phone is: (804) 643-6646


AP Photo/Williamson family
Seven-year-old Kayla Williamson holds a 6-foot, 2-inch long dead black snake that she shot at her home in Blackstone, Va., in this June 12, 2004 family photo. Kayla has been shooting since she was four and shot a deer last year.

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Little girl blasts a big snake

Published July 07. 2004 7:30AM

BY BILL BASKERVILL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


RICHMOND, Va. - Seven-year-old Kayla Williamson was angry when she found a big black snake stealing eggs from the family's hen house.

So she shot and killed it.
It wasn't the first time Kayla showed skill with a gun. Last year, she killed a deer from 50 yards with one shot.

"She won't back up from anything," said her father, Frankie Williamson.

Kayla and her father spotted the nonvenomous snake when they went to gather eggs June 12 at their home in rural Nottoway County about 50 miles southwest of Richmond.

Kayla sells the eggs and her father said the snake "was full of eggs."

"I was mad," Kayla said in a phone interview.

Her father gave her a .22-caliber revolver loaded with rat shot, rounds that contain small pellets.

"She got it in the head with the first shot, but she shot it a couple of more times just for practice," said Williamson, who proudly took a photo of his 4-foot-tall daughter holding the snake.

"He was six feet long and two inches," said Kayla. "My dad dragged him out on a stick and then I shot it."

"I was kinda scared of the snake but when my dad got him out I wasn't," she said. "After I shot him, I wasn't really scared."

Asked what she likes to do other than shooting and hunting, Kayla said, "Nothing."

Williamson said Kayla has been spent countless hours shooting, starting when she was about 4. And he has emphasized gun safety, noting that his daughter only handles guns when he's with her. There is no minimum age for hunting in Virginia if under adult supervision.

Last year, Williamson took then-6-year-old Kayla to a deer stand in the woods.

"We were there a couple of hours when about five (deer) came out in the field to feed," he said.

Kayla took aim with a high-powered, bolt-action rifle. "She put a perfect shot on it probably at about 50 yards," said her father.

"It was fun," said Kayla, who enters second grade in September. "He gave me the gun and I shot it."

TOM SNYDER

Could this be an indigo????
Bull??? someone with some info on locale info in richmond virginia, please enlighten me....


AND PLEASE FORWARD THIS, I have written a letter to the editor of our paper.

TOM SNYDER

I dont understand why a little girl should be fireing guns, but really who cares its just a snake. if I had a hen house and a snake was eating the eggs I would do the same thing.

I know some of you reptiles guys are gun nuts too, i wonder what you think about it.

even tho the snake was most likely eating rats not EGGS, and who in the world still has a camra that takes black and white photos.

who in the world still has a camra that takes black and white photos.

Hmm... It's a newspaper article. Maybe - the black and white photo is from the NEWSPAPER?

Black and white film is extremely common, and often a preferred medium for many photographers.

I'm a complete advocate of armament for the populous (libertarian), and I think that's absolutely sick. A girl that small should not be handling guns at all, and should unquestionably not be shooting live animals. One has to learn respect for life before one can take it, and the grin on that little girl's face shows that she has no conception of the consequence of her actions. (Shooting gun into snake (or deer)'s head = animal is no longer alive.)

The sickest thing is that the newspaper would publish something like this. I can't tell if they mean it to be ironic, cute, or what.

"It was fun . . . He gave me the gun and I shot it."

Adorable.

The other sad thing is that Vince is right -- the snake was probably eating rats (which could potentially harm the girl's chickens, or at least eat their feed) and not eggs. That just goes to show the natural reaction most people have when they see a snake -- KILL IT.

Though my guess is that the photo is in black and white because it's from a newspaper.

OK, guess that's my rant on that...

the reason I brought up the black and white photo was pretaining to the identification of the snake in the photo. If it is an indigo they could face some fines for killing an endangerd species.
I really hope that they keep the guns locked up at that house.

ok am i the only one who thinks there is something wrong with :
1. a 7 year old child shooting guns?
2. allowing a 7 year old child to kill animals.
3.for a 7 year old to be so unremorseful after killing a living creature
jeeze and then we wonder why this world is so <font color=red>[**censored**]</font>ed!!!
that girls father should be arrested for child abuse!!! if she is killing at 7 what will she be doing at 17? mowing down her teachers and the senior class? and to the person with the its only a snake comment , i suppose that makes it alright???

"nuff said"

John Peraza

I agree. What in the world are these people thinking?! Her dad should have his head examined! To me, all I can say past that is that is some redneck b.s. "Hey, momma,....watch me shoot that darn ol' snake over there! YEEEEHAAAAA!" GET-R-DONE!
What's wrong with the idiots who published that article? They're acting like this is something that everyone should be proud of. IDIOTS!

Maybe I will post this somewhere else...I am still concerned with what kind of snake this is........
Anyone have any clues?????
TOM Snyder