Source: John Sommers II / Getty
The family of the 3-year-old boy who got into the Cincinnati Zoo’s gorilla exhibit will not be charged with any crime. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced Monday that “By all accounts, this mother did not act in any way where she presented this child to some harm.” The mother, who was at the zoo with her son the day he entered the gorilla exhibit had three other children with her and Deters said, “If anyone doesn’t believe a 3-year-old can scamper off very quickly, they’ve never had kids.”
On May 28, the boy climbed over the barrier to the gorilla exhibit and fell some 15 feet into a shallow moat with the gorillas. A special response team shot and killed the 17-year-old western lowland gorilla named Harambe to protect the boy. The zoo will reopen its Gorilla World on Tuesday with a higher, reinforced barrier.
