Company using Hudson deaths for promotion

A shotgun rack manufacturer in Minnesota is using the killings of family members of U.S. singer-actress Jennifer Hudson's family in Chicago for a promotion.

Home Back-Up Protection President A. John Peters defended his company's news release this week that specifically linked the three killings in the actress' family to shotgun sales, The Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

"I really feel sorry for these people," Peters said. "I just don't want this to happen to someone else. Sometimes I think people need to be hit between the eyes."

Hudson, who won an Academy Award for the film "Dreamgirls," lost her mother, Darnell Donerson, and her brother, Jason, during a shooting at her mother;s South Side home last Friday. Authorities later located the body of her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, in a white SUV that had been taken from the crime scene.

"Could a Bedside Shotgun Rack Have Saved Jennifer Hudson's Family from Tragic Death?" the news release from Peters' company asks.

Peters told the Tribune he expected his promotion would cause controversy.

"Just having a gun rack offends a lot of people," he said of the likely fallout from his release.