Yes, the mother should have been watching. The gorilla should have acted like the female gorilla at Brookfield* in 1996. The zoo should have had a better and stronger separation between the public and animals. The child should have known better not to have gotten into the exhibit. Et cetera.
Parent's can't possibly watch their children every second of the day; I have certainly gotten out of view of people in charge of me when I was younger, and am lucky nothing happened. Gorillas are animals; they act instinctually, they do not have the morals we do and think not to hurt children specifically, and they will have differing reactions based on gender instincts (see: Disney's 1999 Tarzan, Kala vs Kerchak and their first reactions to baby Tarzan; Kala wants to protect him, like Brookfield's gorilla; Kerchak does not see him as part of his family). The zookeepers are more experienced in handling animals than we are; they knew this was the right call in the moment and still stand by it; think of their loss, too, of a beautiful animal whom they knew very well and for longer and better than any visitors.
This is a horrible loss of an endangered creature, yes. It is right to feel poorly that the zoo had to kill him. We need to remember, however, that trying to tranquilize him before he killed (intentionally or otherwise) the child on his own would have taken too long to act, angering him, and possibly directly causing the child's death. We can miss Harambe, we can mourn Harambe, but we cannot place malicious blame on the zoo, the mother, or anyone else.
Instead, see the zoo makes better effort at making sure small children cannot fit through any opening that could lead them to enclosures. Instead, donate to help the protection of silverback gorillas and other endangered animals, such as through the WWF** or to zoological societies. Instead, look for future solutions, rather than blame.
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* Watch the video of a gorilla saving a toddler (Washington Post).
** Adopt an animal through the World Wildlife Fund.
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