A man who shot and killed his own daughter as she came home from her first day of middle school has told authorities that she startled him, so he shot her. He then tried to get rid of his gun after taking her to a hospital, where she later died from her wounds.Timothy Batts originally told police that his daughter, Timea, came in and woke him up, saying she d been shot after getting off the school bus. After police found evidence that he d fired his gun inside his house, he admitted his lies to the police. He told them that he was his daughter s killer after a noise she made woke him up, and her yell startled him.In other words, he thought she was an intruder, and fired his gun before making sure he knew who was in his house. While there s every possibility that he thought it was someone coming after him, this kind of thing is a growing problem as we increasingly refuse to respect the danger that guns are.Worse, he s a convicted felon. Felons aren t supposed to be able to have guns, and yet, he had one. It s not clear how he came to own a gun, despite having previous convictions of felony drug possession and attempted criminal homicide, and yet, he had one. Why?His daughter s death was a mystery in the town of Hendersonville, Tenn., where people were shocked to learn of Timea s death   nobody could figure out what an 11-year old could possibly have done to get herself shot in the few feet there were between the bus stop and her house. Police were confused as to why there were so few clues other than her father s account of what happened.Later that evening, though, the case took a turn when police investigated Batts  house and found that Batts had fired his gun. He s now facing charges of reckless homicide, tampering with evidence, false reporting and felon in possession of a firearm. He s currently being held on a $1 million bond, and his cousin has actually started a Gofundme account in order to raise money for his bail.He could have obtained his gun legally or illegally, but the fact remains that his daughter would still be alive if he hadn t shot first and thought later.Featured image via screen capture