Couple in jail; pointed gun at YMCA activity bus, police say
Brain Phillip Stephenson and Patricia Edwards Murray alledgedly pointed a gun at a busload of children in Sandston.
Published: December 16, 2008
Updated: December 16, 2008
A Highland Springs couple remained in Henrico County jail tonight, arrested on multiple firearms and neglect charges after allegedly taking turns pointing a handgun at a busload of elementary school students.
Patricia Edwards Murray, 26, and Brain Phillip Stephenson, 36, both of the 200 block of Mapleleaf Avenue, face hearings March 9 on a total of 13 charges, six of them felonies dealing with reckless disregard for a child.
Among the targeted children was Murray’s 9-year-old daughter, police said.
She and as many as nine other students on an after-school YMCA activity bus allegedly witnessed the couple pointing a .40-caliber handgun at them as the couple followed the bus toward the Chickahominy Family YMCA in Sandston yesterday afternoon.
Henrico Police spokesman Lt. Doug Perry said Murray and Stephenson are engaged and had apparently been provoked by gestures some of the children were making at them from the rear of the bus.
“She pointed the gun and then handed it over to him,“ Perry said. The bus carried some 36 children in all.
The bus driver notified officials at the YMCA, who notified police.
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Reader Reactions
Never said anyone wouldn’t be upset. I definitely think the people who pulled the gun are idiots and should be punished. However, I think that children need to learn to behave appropriately. I have had kids be disrespectful to me (kids just acting up for no reason you know we have all seen them) and would appreciate if parents would exert a little control and instill some respect for adults in their children. So.. yes you can be upset at the gun pullers reaction to the idiot actions of the children. However, you need to explain to kids that not everyone is going to react “correctly” to their actions and some moron may put a bullet in their heads as payment for their stupidity. Teach your kids to behave and these situations won’t happen.
Yes, the kids should be addressed on appropriate behavior, but by no means does that justify waiving a gun at them! Regardless of if the gun was loaded or not. If a child is walking down the street and sticks their tongue out at you, which can also be interpreted as disrespectful, do you pull at a gun on them? Of course not! So people stop rambling on about what was addressed with the kids. What kind of mother waives a gun at a child???? Better yet, what kind of man tries to ‘punk down’ a child with a gun???? People are on here talking about the childs actions, but if they have parents like that, then what can you expect? They get what they deserve.
TO GHGIRL, NO ITS NOT ATTITUDE IT IS DISGUST CAUSE IF SOMEBODY PULLED A GUN OUT ON YOUR CHILD WHAT WOULD YOU DO??? YOU CAN’T FEEL MY PAIN NOR DO YOU KNOW MY PAIN AS A MOTHER, THAT FIGHTS HARD TO RAISE THEIR KIDS UP WITH MORALS AN STANDARDS, YOU ARENT ME YOU DON’T KNOW. FURTHERMORE, MY SON WAS ON THE BUS ALONG WITH 2 OTHER SCHOOLS THAT WAS GOING TO THE YMCA, AND HOW DO YOU KNOW IF HE WAS INVOLVED IN THE INCIDENT, THATS RIGHT YOU DON’T, ITS NEVER GOOD TO SPECULATE, CAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW THE FULL INTENT OF THE STORY AT HAND WE DO THE PARENTS, AND THE KIDS, AND FURTHERMORE I DON’T THINK MY SON IS AN ANGEL CAUSE WHAT CHILD IS, BUT I CAN HONESTLY SAY I DO RAISE MY SON WITH RESPECT AND DON’T WORRY HE WON’T END UP IN JAIL MY SON IS A B AVERAGE STUDENT, THAT IS ACTIVE IN SPORTS AND IN CHURCH AND IS RESPECTABLE TO INDIVIDUALS AND LOVING CHILD WHO KNOWS THE FULL EXTINCT OF GETTING IN TROUBLE BASED ON ME AND HIS DAD TALKING TO HIM, BOTH PARENTS WHO WAS RAISE IN RICHMOND CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS AND NO THE VIOLENCE IN THE SCHOOLS AND CAUSE THAT IS HOW I RAISED HIM TO BE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. KNOW THE FACTS CAUSE WHAT YOU ARE READING ISN’T THE WHOLE STORY!!! THEY HAVE BITS AN PIECES NOT THE WHOLE CONCLUSION. KNOW YOU FACTS NOT YOUR OPINION.
Gee mom, I see where your kid gets his attitude. He was messing around acting disrespectful to adults and you see no wrong by your little “angel.“ Ok.. those parents deserve punishment, but the children involved in this gesturing do too. We keep coddling these kids allowing all sorts of disrespectful behavior and we wonder why they end up in jail or worse!
This is my concern I don’t agree with Larry at all, to no degree cause further more my child was one of the the ones on that bus, with the STUPID AND I USE THAT TERM FIRMLY pulled that gun out on the kids. I don’t care what those kids are SPECULATED doing you don’t do that to children. 1st off I am OUTRANGED AND PISSED THE H@#$ OFF THAT THEY DID THIS CAUSE PLAYING OR NOT THAT GUN COULD OF WENT OFF AND THEN WHAT SHOT MY SON AND EVEN HERS AND ANYBODY ELSE KIDS YOU DON’T KNOW!!! THEY BOTH ARE STUPID, DUMB, AND IRRESPONSIBLE, AND I THINK THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE THAT CHILD(REN)TAKING FROM THEM FOR THAT STUPID 15 MINUTE INCIDENT. WHAT THE <BLEEP> WERE YOU THINKING ARE YOU CRAZY. I KNOW DON’T THINK THAT YOU ARE CRAZY AND CRAZY IS AS CRAZY DOES. HOW DO YOU THINK THAT IT WILL FEEL TO HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER TAKEN FROM YOU AND NOT GET HER BACK WELL THAT IS THE WAY THAT WE MIGHT HAVE FELT IF YOU WOULD OF SHOT OUR KIDS!!! I CAN’T EXPRESS ENOUGH HOW MAD I AM IT IS UNREAL TO EXPRESS MY ANGER TOWARDS THESE 2 DUMB @$$ INDIVIDUALS!!!! THAT IS MY SON AND HE IS A PART OF ME AND I AM A HARDWORKING MOTHER THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE TO WORRY WHAT BAD COULD HAPPEN TO MY SON, AND ON TOP OF THAT BEING CALLED AT WORK, TO SAY THAT SOMEBODY PULLED OUT A GUN ON MY CHILD, ARE YOU CRAZY, NUTS WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR PEE LITTTLE BRAINS NOTHING BUT AIR. STOP TRYING TO ACT LIKE YOU ARE SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE NOT YOU AREN’T TOUGH AT ALL ONLY COWARDS HIDE BEHIND GUNS AND FLASH THEM!!! I HOPE THAT YOU BOTH ROT IN JAIL, AND I AM PRAYING THAT THE LORD GIVES YOU WHAT IS DESERVING OF YOU!!!! FROM AN OUTRANGED PARENT, THANK GOD MY SON WAS NOT INJURED OR KILLED IN THIS INCIDENT ON THE BUS!!!! I AM A GOOD MOM NEXT TIME IF THEY ARE DOING SUPPOSELY HAND GESTURES INFORM THE SCHOOL DON’T TAKE IT UPON YOURSELF TO BE THE ENFORCER AND DO SOMETHING STUPID LIKE THIS!!!!!
I agree with Larry to a degree… what happened to the kids?
I agree pointing a gun is very very extreme! And I pray for the sake of those adults that the gun was registered. However if the gun is registered, what is punishment for something like this? People point guns at people every day.
All I can say is that was a very very bad judgement call on those adults. My prayers are with everyone involved. Especially the kids.
Was the gun loaded? Doesn’t sound like it. Were the middle-finger waving kids disciplined in any way? Is this acceptable behavior?
Back when I was going to school, if some punk waved a vile gesture at some parent, from a school bus, the parent would’ve followed the bus to its next stop & would have promptly slapped the kid across the face. And believe me—there wouldn’t be any apologists taking the kid’s side! It would have been “That’s what ya get!“.
So far, it sounds like justice has been served. Now I would like to see each of them get about 5 years in prison to reflect on their actions. I would also like to know why they had the gun in the car in the first place.
Reminds me of a movie: Dumb and Dumber.
It amazes me, you need a license to drive a car, a license to buy a gun, even a license to catch a fish. But any moron is allowed to be a parent.
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