Gun Fail

Sat May 11, 2013 at 08:30 AM PDT

GunFAIL XVII

by David Waldman


Here we are again. This week's compilation includes incidents in which seven kids were accidentally shot, three of them by other kids. A pair of adult brothers joined the parade of sibling shootings this week, of which there were four. It was a bad week for concealed carry ninjas, both licensed and unlicensed, with five shooting themselves and three forgetting their guns, bringing the total of patriots who forgot to keep their guns in their hands until they were cold and dead to six for the week. There were three "home invasion" shootings, in which Patriotic Freedom Lovers shared their Liberty Projectiles with neighbors, three people who shot themselves or others while cleaning loaded guns, two hunting accidents, three girlfriends and/or wives, four cops and one security guard accidentally shot.

Of special note this week are the two men who accidentally shot themselves waking up from naps with loaded guns nearby, particularly the one who apparently was so bushed from having cleaned his girlfriend's guns that he responsibly decided to lie down and nap right the @*$% on top of them!

But if that's not enough for you, there's also the man who went out to investigate a suspected prowler around his RV and ended up shooting himself in the face, the man who took his little lady out for a gun safety lesson (at an abandoned railroad bed, widely acknowledged by experts to be the safest possible location), then hit himself in the hand with a ricochet, jerked, wheeled and shot his girlfriend, and the Responsible Gun OwnerTM who got frustrated during an argument with his son and fired a gun into a wall, killing his son's girlfriend on the other side.

Oh, and remember how the answer to the horror of school shootings was once, briefly, that we should arm the janitors, so that there were manly men around to protect all the ladies and children? Guess who shot himself in the foot this week at the University of Montana law school (where they all grew up around guns and don't need you liberal elitists telling them how to handle them)? This, by the way, is the second school maintenance worker I've found who's accidentally shot himself since the launch of this brilliant idea, the first being the one in Van, Texas who did it at the gun training class his school district sent him to.

Now, with a heavy sigh, I present the week's dishonor roll, below the fold.

1.     FREEMANSBURG, PA, 4/15/13: A Catasauqua man is accused of firing a gun April 15 on the towpath in Freemansburg. William Orlando Hughes, 34, of the 700 block of Front Street, was arraigned today on charges of carrying a firearm without a license and recklessly endangering another person, court records state. He was released on $5,000 unsecured bail. Hughes told police he was cycling rounds through his gun to unload it to take it back to his home when a round became jammed in the chamber, police said. He told police while trying to clear the jammed round he accidentally discharged the gun into the ground, documents state. He allegedly admitted he did not have a license for the gun.
2.     EATONTON, GA, 4/16/13: Charles Raiford Vine, 67, 123 Lawrence Shoals Road, told Putnam County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Long that he was waking up from a nap and accidentally knocked his 9mm Beretta Model 92 off the nightstand. Vine said he was still groggy from his sleep when he noticed the weapon was half-cocked. In attempting to uncock the gun, Vines said, the gun discharged, striking his pinky finger on his left hand.
3.     HALLOWELL, ME, 4/23/13: A 4-year-old child brought a loaded handgun to preschool last month. A staff member found the loaded .380 caliber, semi-automatic handgun in a bag brought to Rollins Family Child Care Center on Litchfield Road. The gun's safety was on but a round was in the chamber. The gun was found in a travel bag the boy uses to carry belongings between the homes of his divorced parents. The police investigation determined that the boy's mother had dropped him off at day care with the bag on the morning of April 18. The boy's father picked him up later that day and returned the child, with the bag, to his mother's house around 5 PM. He indicated he had last seen (the gun) in the door pocket of his truck around 11 AM on the 18th. A few hours later, around 10 PM, the father reported the gun stolen to Skowhegan police. The gun remained in the bag until April 23, when it was discovered at the day-care center.
4.     MANCHESTER, IL, 4/24/13: Please note that it is a violation of firearms etiquette to fire stray rounds into neighboring apartments when murdering your entire family.
5.     AJO, AZ, 4/26/13: Brandin Simon, 22, a passenger in a white Cadillac Escalade being driven by Tiffany Radice, also 22, sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound when deputies stopped the vehicle Friday afternoon because of its window tint. Simon was reportedly trying to hide the weapon, a .40 caliber Glock, when he accidentally shot himself. Excellent job hiding that weapon, Brandin! Hardly noticeable!
6.     GROVER, NC, on or about 4/26/13: Keisha Nicole Smith, 33, of the 100 block of Grier Street in Grover, was charged with failing to store a firearm to protect a minor. According to the arrest warrant, Smith was at home when her 17-year-old son accessed the .38 semiautomatic handgun and “accidentally shot her in the abdomen.” She was arrested and charged about two weeks later, according to the arrest report.
7.     MERCED, CA, 4/28/13: Amazing action hero battles multiple attackers and wins, despite being shot! But then admits he actually shot himself in the crotch, drunkenly sticking a .25 caliber pistol in his pants pocket.
8.     MEMPHIS, TN, 4/29/13: Police said Cardarius Webb had gone to the Pendleton address on April 29 after he heard McGaughy and Mullins had assaulted his mother during an argument. Webb was throwing bricks at them and at the house when brother [Dewayne] McKissack arrived to help and began firing at their nemeses, striking Webb in the head by mistake.
9.     BERKELEY, CA, 4/30/13: Another home invasion shooting: Police received a report that someone had fired a bullet through the walls of a neighbor’s apartment in the 1700 block of Highland Place. Police responded and found two people, later identified as Jeremy Adrian and his girlfriend, Masayo Shinohara, on the second floor landing. According to an officer at the scene, Adrian admitted that he had fired a gun into the next-door unit. Adrian had removed the ammunition clip from his gun but had not realized there was still a bullet in the chamber. The bullet apparently entered the next door apartment through a bedroom wall and shattered a mirror. Oh, and also, the cops recovered a cache of weapons from the couple's apartment; a semi-automatic SKS assault rifle, which they identified as an illegal weapon “because it violated the California Assault Weapon ban;” and other firearms and ammunition, a Browning .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol and accompanying silencer, along with two Saig 12-gauge semi-automatic shotguns. Seems they had been “stockpiling weapons” and the possibility of “eventual war with the government.”
10.     JACKSON HOLE, WY, 5/02/13: The Teton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an accidental shooting death of an unidentified 20-year-old man. According to the Lt. Bob Gwilliam, the victim was showing a semi-automatic handgun to friends when it went off, killing him instantly. Gilliam said the man apparently removed the clip thinking the gun then had no bullets but a round remained in the chamber.
11.     KINGWOOD, TX, 5/02/13: A concealed carry ninja scares the crap out of people at the movie theater. Says he knew the theater's rules against carrying weapons, but "forgot" he had the gun on him. And the knife.
12.     MEMPHIS, TN, 5/02/13: Hey, I forgot, too! A passenger at Memphis International Airport was stopped at a TSA security checkpoint Thursday morning after a .38 revolver was found in a carry-on bag. TSA Federal Security Director Kevin McCarthy said this is the 9th gun found in a carry-on at Memphis International in 2013. Nine guns total were found in all of 2012. “People are not aware of what they have in their bags. The most common excuse we hear is I forgot about it or I didn’t pack my bag, but that’s not good enough,” said McCarthy. Thursday’s passenger received a misdemeanor citation. He could’ve been arrested but was not.
13.     STROUDSBURG, PA, 5/02/13: A Responsible Gun OwnerTM decided to clean his girlfriend's guns, reload them, put them on the bed, and then... lie down on top of them to take a siesta. Yawn! He must've been exhausted from taking all that responsibility! Oh, by the way, he rolled over and shot himself.
14.     HIGHLANDS RANCH, CO, 5/03/13: A friend of the victim told 7NEWS that the off-duty officer and two long-time friends were installing a strut bar on the officer’s car. One of the friends was inside the vehicle. The other was trying to access an area in the trunk when he shifted some of the officer’s gear to one side.  That’s when a gun that was in the trunk discharged. The bullet apparently went through the back seat and struck the victim on the side of his torso. “It lacerated his liver and his pancreas,” the friend said. “He’s in critical but stable condition.”
15.     ORLANDO, FL, 5/03/13: Another concealed carry ninja whose precious is so important to him, he forgot he had it at all.
16.     CLEVELAND, OH, 5/03/13: A 26-year-old Missouri man was arrested Friday afternoon at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport when airport security found a handgun in a piece of luggage he attempted to carry onto a plane.
17.     SAGINAW, MI, 5/03/13: Police officers were called to the 1100 block of Dillon Thursday, May 3, about 1 PM for a report of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The victim shot himself in the foot and was treated at Covenant HealthCare hospital.
18.     WEST CARROLLTON, OH, 5/03/13: It seems like it was just going to be a matter of time before reading something as dumb as this. A Responsible Gun OwnderTM fired a gun into a wall in his home, supposedly "in order to get the attention of his son, with whom he had been in a disagreement." The bullet went through the wall, as bullets have been known to do, and killed his son's girlfriend, 25-year-old Brittany Geiger. Way to go, pops.
19.     HOUSTON, TX, 5/04/13: An off-duty law enforcement officer was taken to a local hospital after officials said he accidentally shot himself in the leg Saturday afternoon in southwest Houston. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said the officer was sitting in his personal vehicle at the intersection of west Mt. Houston and Moonglow Road when his gun went off. Officials did not say whether it was his personal or duty firearm that fired.
20.     COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, 5/04/13: Colorado Springs Police said a man accidentally shot himself Saturday afternoon while cleaning a handgun in his car. The man spilled soda on the gun and police said it discharged when he replaced the magazine after wiping it. The 24-year-old man injured his left hand, left thigh and left calf.
21.     OAKLAND PARK, FL, 5/04/13: An evening of being home alone ended Saturday night with a 13-year-old boy shooting his 6-year-old sister at their Oakland Park residence, the Broward Sheriff's Office said. The agency is investigating the circumstances of the shooting, "but it initially appears to be accidental," she said.
22.     ST. LOUIS, MO, 5/04/13: Police say that a sixteen-year-old male, a sixteen-year-old female and a twenty-year-old female were standing on the 1000 block of Dillon Court, just south of downtown, when a Black Nissan stopped and fired multiple shots at them. It was about 4:30 PM. Police say that the vehicle continued west on Chouteau Avenue and was soon out of sight -- and victims later could not provide any further details on the suspect or suspect vehicle. The two females were not injured, but the sixteen-year-old male was -- apparently, because he shot himself. The incident report says, "Further investigation revealed [he] accidentally shot himself with his friend's gun."
23.     PERU, IL, 5/04/13: Another ninja stealthily takes out the favored target: his own leg. Police believe John D. Vulcani of 1588 Bucklin St., La Salle accidentally fired a 9 mm bullet into his leg and drove himself to St. Margaret’s Hospital, Spring Valley, where he was admitted for treatment, Peru police chief Doug Bernabei said. “Preliminarily we believe this was an accidental shooting and we do believe that alcohol is a factor in this incident,” Bernabei said.
24.     FALLS CITY, OR, 5/04/13: And another home invasion shooting. According to investigators, shots were fired near the intersection of Bridge Street and South Main Street around 11:50 PM Saturday. The bullets traveled over the Little Luckiamute River and struck the back of the apartment complex where Crystal Lorensen lives with her husband and three young children. Lorensen said she heard three gunshots late Saturday night, then a bullet landed on her living room floor. It came through the wall after traveling through her neighbor's apartment, she said. Two other bullets came into the bedroom shared by her 11-year-old and 9-year-old sons. One bullet hole was inches from the top bunk of the bunk bed, where her oldest son was supposed to be sleeping. "They were not listening and playing their video games on the floor in the closet so mommy and daddy don't see ‘em," she said. "If they didn't have these games they probably would have been up on that bed. I couldn't imagine my life without my 11-year-old, without any of my boys."
25.     FAIRFIELD, ID, 5/04/13:  Curtis Jaussi, 34, is determined to hunt again, his wife said Wednesday. Curtis was hunting with a friend north of Fairfield Saturday when his rifle discharged accidentally inside his backpack. The round struck him in the left knee. Curtis' hunting companion used a belt and a shirt to tie a tourniquet around the injured leg, then hiked to the nearest ranger station for help. He was airlifted to a local hospital before being transferred to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where his leg was amputated.
26.     ELGIN TOWNSHIP, IL, 5/05/13: A man was accidentally wounded by his brother when tho two were handling a revolver early this morning in unincorporated Elgin Township, police said. Preliminary information said two brothers, both in their 20s, were handling a revolver when the revolver accidentally went off striking one of them in their abdomen, the release said.
27.     WEST HEMPFIELD, PA, 5/05/13: Golly-gee if another concealed carry ninja hasn't just gone and shot himself in the leg while sitting in the car! "He was pulling the slide back to push a bullet from the magazine into the chamber so it would be operable," Geier said. "But he didn't know he already had a bullet in (the chamber)." "He accidentally pulled the trigger and shot himself in the lower left leg," the sergeant said.
28.     MURRAY, KY, 5/05/13: A Murray State University student has died after he accidentally shot himself in the head with a handgun. Murray State University vice president Mike Young told The Paducah Sun (http://bit.ly/...) that the gun accidentally went off as Law, an Army veteran, showed it to a friend.
29.     DETROIT, MI, 5/05/13: Thieves learn what happens when you attempt to rob a retired cop who's packing heat! What happens is, you get a free gun!
30.     MOUNT PLEASANT, SC, 5/05/13: A Mount Pleasant man got mad after dropping the top to his Jeep Sunday, so he got a gun and shot it, witnesses told police. Witnesses told police Mancusi was trying to place the hard top on his green Jeep Wrangler when he dropped it and broke a window, so he got a gun and shot out the other window. A woman who was standing nearby with two friends told police he said, “You got a problem with that, I’ll shoot you too.”
31.     CENTRAL ISLIP, NY, 5/06/13: One person was injured when a gun accidentally went off inside a federal courthouse in Long Island on Monday, police said. According to WABC, the victim was a court officer who shot himself in the arm in a room on the third floor.
32.     INDIANAPOLIS, IN, 5/06/13: A 4-year-old boy shot himself in the hand Monday after removing a gun from his father's safe, Indianapolis police said. The shooting happened about 12:45 PM in the 1700 block of Randall Road.
33.     PARIS, TX, 5/06/13: Yet another concealed carry ninja liberates himself from tyranny! A Paris man was airlifted to a Dallas hospital after an accidental shooting Monday. The Paris Police Department responded to a call early Monday morning at the 2600 block of Briarwood. The 49- year-old male told police a pistol that was being carried in a vest holster went off and the bullet struck the victim in the groin area.
34.     CHICAGO, IL, 5/06/13: Police were responding to report a burglary Monday night in the Englewood community when a police officer ended up accidentally shooting a fellow officer. The 42-year-old officer was struck in the leg and taken to a local hospital, according to police. The officer he was with on the call was trying to shoot at an attacking dog
35.     WILMINGTON, NC, 5/06/13: A man who called 911 to report he’d been shot in the arm by an unknown person Monday night, later said his friend accidentally shot him, an official said. Initially the man stated he didn’t know who shot him, then later at the hospital said his friend did it by accident.
36.     ATHENS, AL, 5/06/13: An out-of-town guest staying at the hotel accidentally vertically discharged his personal firearm, said Police Chief Floyd Johnson. “There was no shooting, and no shots fired (at another person). It was man showing off to his friends, and the first shot was an accidental discharge,” Johnson said.
37.     MACON, GA, 5/06/13: A Jones County man told deputies that he fatally shot his girlfriend while he handled his handgun, an incident report says. They say 22-year-old Brittany Grizzle died shortly after 8:30 Monday night. The report says 27-year-old Waylon Goodson told deputies it happened while he was handling his .357 revolver.
38.     MARION, MT, 5/06/13: 12:02 PM. A Marion man accidentally shot himself in the leg.
39.     BETHEL TOWNSHIP, PA, 5/06/13: Bethel Township police arrested a township man after he fired a rifle several times at a barn from the roof of his house, alarming his wife and daughter and the daughter's fiance as they sat on the porch below, officials said Tuesday. Ronald L. Lutz, 49, was taken into custody without incident after police arrived at the house in the 400 block of Schubert Road in response to a 9-1-1 call Monday about 7 PM, police said. Lutz said he was shooting toward the barn at a groundhog, but did not check to see if anyone was in the barn. He admitted he drank about a gallon of whiskey that evening.
40.     UNIVERSITY CITY, MO, 5/07/13: An accidental shooting in University City this morning injured a man who was just getting home from work. Officers responded to a residence in the 1100 block of Watts around 8:25 AM Tuesday after receiving the call about the shooting. Once police secured the location and made entry, they learned the victim was a security officer who was removing his weapon from the holster when it discharged.
41.     SALEM, OR, 5/07/13: Frank R. Moore, 71, told police that he and his wife were asleep in their motor home at the Phoenix RV Park, at 4130 Silverton Road NE. He heard someone moving around outside the motor home, got his .22 caliber rifle and went to check it out, police said. But he tripped and accidentally shot himself in the jaw, police said. Unable to communicate, he knocked on the motor home's bedroom window to awaken his wife who took him to the hospital. Police found the rifle, but did not see any sign of the alleged prowler.
42.     CINCO RANCH, TX, 5/07/13: According to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, a 21-year-old accidentally shot his 18-year-old brother in the face overnight at a home in the 4900 block of Surrey Park Circle in Cinco Ranch. The men were in separate rooms of the home when the older brother was doing something with AR-15 rifle. He reportedly didn't realize it was loaded, and a round struck his brother in the face.
43.     BEAVERCREEK, OH, 5/07/13: Police are trying to piece together what led to a shooting at a residence Tuesday evening that left one man with a gunshot wound to the chest. A man, believed to be in his 40s, was wounded by a slug from a .22-caliber revolver somewhere in the house in the 2800 block of Bahns Drive, Beavercreek Sgt. David Darkow said. Police centered their investigation on the garage area of the home. Police were dispatched to the address at about 6:30 PM on a report of a shooting, and learned the incident was an apparent accidental shooting, Darkow said.
44.     MARION, MT, 5/07/13: A Marion man made an unscheduled trip to the hospital after accidentally shooting himself in the calf.
45.     TAMPA, FL, 5/07/13: A 3-year-old child was shot and killed inside an apartment Tuesday night. The boy's uncle, 29-year-old Jeffrey D. Walker, has been charged with culpable negligence, a third-degree felony. Investigators say he brought an unsecured 9mm handgun to the apartment and left it in a backpack. The child got hold of it, and it went off, investigators said.
46.     HOUSTON, TX, 5/07/13: A 7-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the back by his younger brother in northeast Houston on Tuesday evening. Police said after the mother had given her five and seven-year-old sons a bath, and they started to play. That’s when the 5-year-old found a .22-caliber rifle and accidentally shot his brother.
47.     SANTA FE, TX, 5/07/13: Texas police are considering whether to press charges after a mother allegedly turned to WebMD.com instead of actual doctors after her teen son was shot. Pete Jesse Rodriguez, a 24-year-old friend who lives in the family's Santa Fe, Texas home, accidentally shot the woman's 14-year-old son at 6:37 PM on Tuesday. The incident was captured on an in-house surveillance camera, reported local station KHOU. A bullet struck the 14-year-old boy's upper left thigh but his mother did drive him to see a doctor for seven hours. Instead, the mother looked up "How to treat a gunshot wound" on WebMD.
48.     CHANDLER, AZ, on or about 5/07/13: Authorities say a Chandler man has died in what appears to be a hunting accident in Apache County. Deputies got directions to the man’s hunting camp south of Vernon, Arizona at around 6:30 Thursday evening where they found the hunter dead from a gunshot wound to the chest. According to officials, there was no indication of foul play or other disturbance.
49.     ORLANDO, FL, 5/07/13: Concealed carry ninja conceals gun from himself. Jeffrey Lamar Ridley was preparing to leave about 3 PM Tuesday when a TSA officer noticed a bag with a loaded handgun passing through the X-ray scanner, an Orlando police report stated. "The image showed a clear picture of a small semi-automatic weapon with a full magazine," the report stated. "I was able to retrieve a loaded black Kel-Tec Model .380 with 6 rounds in the magazine and 1 in the chamber."
50.     ORLANDO, FL, 5/08/13: Concealed carry ninja conceals gun from himself. No, it's not a typo. At 10:15 AM Wednesday, a .32-caliber handgun loaded with eight cartridges was discovered in the carry-on bag of Orange County businessman Gregory Polk, according to TSA and Orlando police. Once again, rule number one for concealed carriers: always know where your gun is.
51.     FAIRFIELD, OH, 5/08/13: Robinson Hao Davalos of Fairfield Township was accidentally shot in the back inside a car by a back seat passenger who showed off a gun and mishandled it during a drug deal gone bad about 2 AM, police said.
52.     JACKSON, MI, 5/08/13: A man who police believe was trying to conceal a weapon from an officer suffered a gunshot wound to the leg when the weapon discharged in a party store in Jackson on Wednesday morning. Police believe the man had an altercation with two others in the parking lot of the store and the man went into a vehicle to retrieve a handgun before entering the store.
53.     CORSICANA, TX, 5/08/13: A toddler died late Wednesday after accidentally shooting himself. Kinsler Allen Davis, 2, was taken to Navarro Regional Hospital and then flown by helicopter to Children's Medical Center in Dallas, where doctors pronounced him dead. A preliminary investigation shows the boy found the handgun inside a bedroom and fired it. The bullet hit him in the head, Chief Bratton said. The boy's father was in another room of the house when the shooting happened.
54.     SMOLAN, KS, 5/08/13: A Smolan area woman was taken to Salina Regional Health Center on Wednesday afternoon after she suffered a gunshot wound to the toe, a sheriff's office captain said. Capt. Brian Shea said more information about the incident would be available today. He said the woman's toe injury, which occurred a little after noon, appeared to be accidental. UPDATE: Wow. Here's the scoop: some guy was giving his girlfriend a "gun safety lesson," and he apparently hit himself in the hand with his own ricochet, causing him to jerk the gun back and... shoot his girlfriend.
55.     WILDWOOD, NJ, 5/08/13: An otherwise responsible heroin owner shot himself through his left hand and leg.
56.     MISSOULA, MT, 5/08/13: Remember when they said everyone could have been saved by schools with armed janitors? A janitor at the University of Montana School of Law who allegedly was  keeping a knife and two pistols in a janitorial closet there accidentally shot himself in the foot Wednesday night while handling one of the guns.
57.     WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, OH, 5/09/13: A 61-year-old Fayette County woman was taken to Grant Medical Center in Columbus Thursday night after being shot by her husband. According to Fayette County Sheriff Vernon P. Stanforth, a 9-1-1 call was received from 2269 Greenfield Sabina Road shortly before 11 PM reporting that a man was cleaning a small caliber handgun when it discharged a bullet, striking his wife in the leg. According to the couple’s granddaughter, they have been happily married for 43 years and the husband feels horrible for what happened. She said that her grandfather had just bought the gun on Thursday and it wasn’t until it was too late that he learned a bullet was jammed inside the chamber.
58.     WASHINGTON, DC, 5/09/13: D.C. police say a 3-year-old girl was hit by a stray bullet as she played on the balcony of an apartment. Police say the girl was shot in the leg Thursday evening in southeast Washington and taken to Children’s Hospital with injuries that are not thought to be life threatening. Investigators are trying to determine what prompted the gunfire, but they do not believe the girl or the apartment were targeted.
59.     CAMDEN, NJ, 5/10/13: "It appears we had an 11-year-old accidentally shoot a 12-year-old, his friend, in the face."

Originally posted to David Waldman on Sat May 11, 2013 at 08:30 AM PDT.