Child shoots gun, woman faces charges

EAST HAMPTON, Conn. (WTNH) - An East Hampton woman accused of letting her 12-year-old son fire a gun without her supervision is facing charges.

The parents of a boy have already been arrested once, three years ago when the boy accidently shot his father.

"Sometimes they are out there shooting for quite a while, bang bang bang yeah," says John Brooks, of East Hampton.

Brooks lives in the woods of East Hampton for the peace and quiet, the country life, which includes the occasional hunter, but on  Apr. 6, police arrested 51-year-old Alexandria Simonelli for risk of injury to a minor and reckless endangerment. Her 12-year-old son was allegedly unsupervised in the front yard shooting up the neighborhood with a rifle. Brooks thought it was the boy's father.

"People used to complain because it was making a lot of noise, but I didn't know kids were involved, when you hear kids that makes a difference," says Brooks.

Some of the neighbors who live in the area didn't want to go on camera but tell News 8 that the most recent incident happened at the end of the driveway in broad daylight. Witnesses say the boy allegedly had a .22 rifle and was shooting towards some homes and randomly popping off shots, and they say it made them very nervous, especially when you consider the family's past history.

In 2008 police say the same boy, then 9 years old shot his father in the neck, and when police came to investigate they found 62 rifles, nearly a dozen hand guns, a grenade launcher and cross bows. The father, Joseph Simonelli was arrested for reckless endangerment, and then again for carrying a dangerous weapon when he tried to bring a knife into one of his court appearances.

Neighbors say now, three years later police are back at the house, and there hasn't been much peace and quiet in the woods since.

"When you think it might be a nine-year-old now a 12-year-old, I didn't know that was happening. I didn't know that the kids were doing it," says Brooks.