The following is a narrative of the events surrounding the accidental death of my brother, Kenneth Lee Jenkins, as I remember them:My father, George , my brother, Kenneth and I went hunting for groundhogs in Westmoreland County on that fateful day, as we had done many times before. This day was going to be different.The event that took place had a severe impact on our whole family. I believe that this accident was one of the reasons for, my mother’s, Eleanor Minnie ( Law ) Jenkins , addiction to alcohol. This addiction eventually contributed to her death at an early age.We arrived in the area where we wanted to hunt. Kenneth saw an area where he wanted to hunt and asked Dad to let him out. flower shop . After letting him out, we continued riding for about another mile until we found a place where dad and I wanted to try our luck.Dad and I ended up hunting in an area of hilly pastures. The grass on the open hills was high and it was a bright clear, warm day. Dad said that this was a good spot to hunt for groundhogs. He had seen some there before, at the bottom of the hill border ing the woods. We were walking together quietly along the top part of the hill looking for groundhogs. Dad suddenly stopped and whispered that he saw a groundhog. He said it was in the field downhill from us. I asked him where because I didn’t see any signs of movement nor any groundhogs.My father raised his .222 rifle to his shoulder, looked through the scope mounted on the rifle and fired what was to be the fatal bullet. After he fired the rifle, he said something like ” I got him.” I asked him where because even though he shot at something, I still didn’t see anything at all. I followed him down the hill to where the groundhog was supposed to be.As we were running down the hill in the tall grass, I didn’t see anything until we were about 5 to 10 yards away. It was the first time that I experienced what I believe was ‘shock.’ At that instant I saw what I thought to be a cow lying down in the field. I remember thinking about how my father was going to tell the owner of the farm that he shot his cow.All of a sudden I realized that the bullet struck my brother, Kenneth, not a cow. I then ran the rest of the way to my brother and cradled his head in my arms while trying to stop the blood that was pulsing out of his neck. I will never forget the feeling of helplessness that overcame me because I could not stop the bleeding. I could hear my father crying and saying that he was dead and there was nothing we could do about it. Dad was right either Kenneth was dead or dying and there was nothing that we could do to alter that fact.We were both very upset and I recall dad, trying to smash the rifle against something. The walk to the farmer’s house to call for an ambulance, the wait for it to respond, the wait at the hospital and the ride home to tell our family about Kenneth’s death was an eternity.I, at no time, would have thought nor suspected that my brother Kenneth would have been in the location where his life was tragically and suddenly ended. After this unfortunate and devastating tragedy, some people said and believed that my father intentionally shot his son, Kenneth .Whenever we went hunting together, my father always reminded us about gun and hunting safety. He drilled us constantly about it and would not let us do anything foolish with our rifles. He constantly stressed to us the importance of not shooting at anything we were unsure of. USMLE Step 2 qbank . No matter how careful one may be there is always a chance of an accident occurring.I at no time ever felt nor will I ever believe that my father, George Luther Jenkins Sr., intentionally shot his son/my brother, Kenneth Lee Jenkins on that fatal day.
