Two children were found locked inside a barn in West Virginia without any running water or bathroom facilities and their adoptive parents are now facing felony child neglect charges, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office says.
An investigation was launched Monday just before 6 p.m. after authorities received a 911 call regarding the welfare of the children, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
A sheriff’s deputy went to the barn in Sissonville and forced her way inside to find a boy and girl in the 20-foot by 14-foot room, the release said.
The children were locked inside without access to water, a bathroom, food or adequate hygienic care items, authorities said. At the main residence, another small child was found locked inside alone, the release stated.
I am a native speaker and I think it could’ve been clearer, but I did know who was locked in. To me it read like this “The adoptive parents of (the of completely separating it) two kids found locked in a barn…” I don’t know the rule or anything, but on glance the of cut the sentence in 2 for me making the barn modifier apply to the children. It might also just be entirely grammatically incorrect too lol
I don't tend to agree. A similar sentence could be; "Owner of Maserati found drunk in river charged with disorderly conduct." Similar structure but less confusing because the Maserati can't be drunk so the statement re charges must relate to the owner. In the present headline the "locked in barn" could equally relate to both parents or children, it is only the fact that child negligence is mentioned that you can surmise that the kids were the ones locked in. Grammatically, the sentence could be better as I write above.
Completely agree, headlines like this need to be much more clear. I feel with the standard to make headlines short it hurts the reader because things like this will happen