Parents indicted in shooting death of toddler

The parents of a toddler who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest are on house arrest.

Staff Report

SEBRING — The Sebring couple linked to their 2-year-old son’s death now are under indictment by a Mahoning County grand jury.

Douglas Foor, 25, and Amanda Saunier, 24, are both charged with two counts of child endangering. The indictments came Thursday.

Foor is also charged with a count of involuntary manslaughter.

The couple’s son, Jacob, accidentally killed himself when he fired a handgun into his chest Nov. 13, 2008. According to the police report, the shooting took place shortly after 9 a.m.

Foor and Saunier also were arraigned Thursday at the Mahoning County Court in Sebring.

Both appeared before Judge Dianne Vetorri. The parents are on house arrest with the exception of work and church.

Their preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. May 19, the court supervisor said.

The handgun Jacob used belonged to Foor, a part-time Minerva police officer, but it was not his service gun.

One count of child endangering is in connection with Jacob; the other is for the couple’s 1-year-old daughter, Hannah, who was also in the family’s Smith Township mobile home at the time of the accident.

Foor could face up to 10 years in prison on the involuntary-manslaughter charge and a minimum of three years if he is convicted.

Five years is the maximum for child-endangering charges and a minimum of one year in prison upon conviction, said Detective Terry Rockwell of the Smith Township Police Department.

Rockwell said that Jacob had the barrel of the gun pointing toward his chest and pulled the trigger with both thumbs.

He said it was an accident that should have been avoided.

“As police officers, the first thing we’re taught is gun safety,” he said.