Mum ‘shot dead her daughter while targeting stray dog attacking kittens’
A mother fatally shot her teenage daughter while taking aim at a stray dog that was attacking kittens on their front porch.
Amanda Myrene Fields Moffett, 43, pleaded guilty this week to accidentally killing her daughter Laramie Jayne Moffett, 16.
‘Laramie always had a smile on her face,’ states her obituary.
‘She loved all animals mostly her horses, show calves. She was an accomplished rider in rodeo. She had no fear of animals, she rode bulls, and bareback broncs. Mostly she loved her barrel racing and roping.’
After sunset on October 5, 2018, Moffett’s daughter told her mother that a stray dog was going after kittens outside their home, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
‘Moffett admitted she stepped out onto her front porch and discharged a handgun into the dark yard at what she believed was the stray dog,’ stated the office. ‘Moffett further admitted that she did not confirm that her daughter was out of her line of fire.’
She pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Indian country on Monday. Moffett, a Cherokee citizen of Nowata, faces up to eight years in federal prison.
‘Every gun owner has the legal responsibility to use extreme caution when discharging a firearm,’ stated US Attorney Clinton Johnson. ‘This case unfortunately highlights the potential tragic results absent that caution.’
Moffett will be under conditions of supervised release until her sentencing, which does not yet have a date. A federal district court judge will consider US sentencing guidelines as well as statutory factors in determining Moffett’s sentence.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorneys Aaron Jolly and Valeria Luster. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigations and Nowata County Sheriff’s Office investigated the shooting.
Laramie won multiple awards in barrel racing and qualified for finals in the National Barrel Horse Association, which she was an active member of. She was also a member of the Nowata Round-Up Club, Junior Shorthorn Association and Junior Maine Anjou Association, and involved with the Junior American Quarter Horse Association.
Her visitation will be held at the Benjamin Funeral Home on Wednesday and her service will be on Friday at the Crosswired Cowboy Church in Grove, Oklahoma.
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