Thirty-eight-year-old Amy Dunn Trout of Gainesville was given a suspended imposition of sentence and five years of supervised probation on two felony counts of first degree child abuse during an appearance in Ozark County Circuit Court recently. Other charges, including two counts of armed criminal action, two counts of second degree domestic assault and abuse or neglect of a child, were dropped.
The incident took place at the family home. The suspected abuse of the two children was reported to the Missouri Department of Family Services by officials at the school they attend. Both children told investigators their mother had shot them with the BB gun because they had “disobeyed rules” set up to govern use of the gun.
Both children were reported to have had bruises consistent with being hit by BBs.
Trout later admitted to authorities that she had fired the BB gun at her children and gave the weapon to law enforcement. In statements at the sheriff’s office, she reportedly broke down and repeatedly said, “I shot my babies. I’m a terrible mother. What type of mother would do that?”
The children were placed in the custody of their father following the incident.
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