A playdate in Chubbuck, Idaho, on July 30, 2014, ended in tragedy when 5-year-old Noelle Aston Shawver, a White female from Blackfoot, was fatally shot. Noelle was in the master bedroom of Rusty and Ashlee Lish’s home, playing with their 5-year-old son, when a .22 caliber rifle the other child had found discharged. Adults in an adjacent room discovered Noelle with a gunshot wound to her chest; she was taken to Portneuf Medical Center and died later that day.

Investigators found multiple unsecured firearms in the master bedroom, including a loaded 12-gauge shotgun with a round in the chamber, a loaded 7-millimeter rifle, and a loaded Glock handgun. Rusty and Ashlee Lish were charged with misdemeanor injury to a child; the Bannock County Prosecutor said the adults were not the direct actors in the shooting but that their alleged negligence in leaving firearms accessible to children created the setting for the incident. The couple pleaded not guilty.

Did anyone in the Chubbuck or Blackfoot communities notice unsecured firearms in homes where children played?