Gun Fail

SUN JUL 07, 2013 AT 06:12 PM PDT

GunFAIL XXV

byDavid Waldman


With Independence Day behind us, we've had our second biggest day of the year for celebratory gunfire, and this week's compilation certainly reflects that, as fully 13 of our entries fit under that category. Serious casualties were mercifully low, though someone in central Virginia will have to ponder whether his or her July 4th celebration of freedom was really and truly worth taking the life of the 7-year-old boy who died of his head wound.

July 4th "celebrations" are also partially responsible for the rate of home invasion shootings this week, accounting for 4 of the 10 I counted this week. That's 10 families who were sitting at home minding their own business, when someone else's exercise of their Second Amendment rights apparently overrode their property rights. Ten. That's quite a lot, really. Note, too, that St. Petersburg, Florida, had two separate celebratory gunfire incidents. Many of the write-ups of those stories (like this one) made special mention of the St. Pete area's recent history with celebratory gunfire, including a man who was hit last July 4th, a woman hit last New Year's Eve, and a boy hit on New Year's just two years ago. And that's not even to mention the other woman hit on the 4th down in Ft. Lauderdale. Go Florida!

Four GunFAIL incidents this week involved Responsible Gun OwnersTM who had taken their weapons out for some practice, three who had taken them out just to show them off for the hell of it, two who had taken them out for cleaning (while loaded), and one who had no intention of taking it out at all, but had it fall out of his pocket and discharge into the ceiling while seeking treatment for an unrelated injury in a local emergency room. I'll bet the doctors really appreciated that, too.

The 14 child victims of GunFAIL this week were 3, 6, 6, 7, 9, 11, 11, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17, and two kids of unspecified ages. Of particular note among them was one West Virginia 11-year-old shot to death in his sleep by his own grandmother. Grandma lived in a separate home some 200 yards away, and upon becoming convinced she heard prowlers outside, apparently fired wildly into the night, putting at least one round into her son and grandson's nearby home, killing the boy in his bed. No evidence of any prowlers was found. One other item of note in this category: Yet another Kentucky pre-school aged boy has shot and killed his sister, this time when their grandfather left out a loaded pistol he says he planned to clean (and why not do that when the grandkids are around, right?) and then turned around "just for a second." You know how that goes.

Lastly, I'll note that faithful GunFAIL readers will find this year's second shooting involving not a gun, but a kitchen appliance. In this week's incident, a 9-year-old child apparently placed a live round on a hot stove, and was wounded by shrapnel in the ensuing explosion. You'd think that was nothing but a freak accident if you weren't following this series, though. But since you are, you'll recall that GunFAIL VI back in February included the story of a young woman injured by bullet fragments from an explosion caused when the oven in which she was heating waffles turned out to contain a loaded magazine, thoughtfully stored separately from the owner's semi-automatic handgun (which was in a nearby kitchen drawer). Where did it happen? If you said St. Petersburg, Florida, you're correct. And if you said it because you live there, consider relocating.

Below the fold, please find this week's list.

1. HOWLAND TOWNSHIP, OH, 5/26/13: Edward Hazboun arrived home and was informed by his sister-in-law Barbara Leary, who had been house-sitting, that she thought she heard something hit the home about 4:30 p.m. She said she believed it may have been a bullet. Hazboun discovered a bullet hole on the east side of the house and called the police. Together they traced the path of the bullet. It traveled through the outside wall into the kitchen, through a food pantry and into the food, through the wall behind the pantry and into the bathroom. It then continued through another wall and into an office, through the office wall and into a wardrobe closet. The bullet ended up inside a portfolio book, according to police reports. Officers spoke with Leary, who said she heard shooting coming from the woods behind the home. Police walked through the woods to a neighbor's house about a quarter of a mile away. There, James L. Karr, 1463 Duffus Road, told officers he and his stepson Michael Seidler had been shooting into a pile of wood in the backyard. Karr said they had been firing a handgun and a shotgun and were unaware that the bullet had traveled through the woods.
2. RICHFIELD, MN, 6/14/13: One weapons offense: a call on June 14 about a 32-year-old intoxicated Richfield woman who accidentally shot through the floor of a second floor apartment into the residence below on the 3600 block of Lancaster Lane North. No one was injured, but the woman was arrested.
3. MERCED, CA, 6/18/13: Baker kept a low profile until June 18, when Merced police say he was at the Travelodge Motel on Yosemite Parkway, just east of Highway 99. Gunshots were reported there about 9:30 p.m. Trinidad described what police know: When officers arrived at the motel, they found a hole in the wall of a room and two guns. Baker was stopped about a half-mile away. He told police the gun discharged accidentally. Baker's lawyer, Roger Nuttall, said his client was showing some of his guns to a man and a woman who were in the room with him. "He was kind of humiliated that it accidentally discharged," Nuttall said Wednesday.
4. BUFORD, GA, 6/26/13: Police say the same bullet that a woman used to kill herself accidentally struck and wounded a park ranger. Gwinnett County police say the bullet traveled through the window of a truck and then struck the ranger in the stomach. D.P. Wright, a 70-year-old ranger for the Army Corps of Engineers at Lower Buford Dam Park, was shot the night of June 26 when he went to tell a 34-year-old woman sitting in truck that the park was closed.
5. KNOXVILLE, TN, 6/27/13: A Knoxville woman went to the hospital Thursday after her friend shot her in the leg. Vivian Wright, 56, was visiting friends at a home on High Meadow Drive when Robert Wells, 69, showed her his handgun. A report from the Knox County Sheriff's Department says Wells reloaded the gun and accidentally fired it. A bullet struck Wright in the leg.
6. DANVILLE, PA, 6/27/13: The state health department wants a thorough review after a patient's gun fired as he was being treated in the emergency room at a central Pennsylvania hospital. The bullet entered the top of a wall and no one was hit. A spokesman for Geisinger Medical Center in Danville says it happened around 8 p.m. Thursday as the man was being turned by ER staff inside a trauma bay. The (Bloomsburg) Press Enterprise reports (http://bit.ly/...) the spokesman, Mike Ferlazzo, says a handgun fell out of the patient's pocket and fired. Police say the patient had a permit for that gun and that they don't consider it a criminal matter.
7. SCOTTS VALLEY, CA, 6/28/13: A man and a woman were arrested Friday in connection with the negligent discharge of a firearm into a residence in Scotts Valley on Wednesday, police said. Police arrested Scotts Valley residents James Davis, 44, and Beatrice Magleby, 44, on Friday. Two residents were home when a bullet entered their residence and shattered their glass door. Both residents were uninjured, according to police. Officers collected the bullet and traced the trajectory of the bullet holes to inside the nearby business, the Scotts Valley Motorcycle Center. Police made contact with Davis, the owner of the business. Davis initially denied knowledge of a firearm being shot in his business, but later admitted that an altercation may have occurred between some of his friends. Two rifles, a shotgun, and four pistols were seized during the search, police said. A small amount of drugs, believed to be methamphetamine, as well as illegal fireworks were also found during the search, according to police. Davis was arrested for violation of a protection order and for possessing firearms in violation of a protection order.
8. CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH, 6/28/13: SHOT FIRED, WOODVIEW ROAD: A woman reported the afternoon of June 28 that she had accidentally discharged a firearm into the unit below her residence. She was subsequently arrested.
9. MATTAWAN, MI, 6/29/13: A 46-year-old woman from Vancouver, Wash., was transported to Bronson Methodist Hospital after she accidentally shot herself in the foot with a pistol at the Southern Michigan Gun Club in Van Buren County Saturday at 10:10 a.m., according to the Van Buren County Sheriff's Department. The woman told officers that she thought the 9mm semi-automatic pistol was empty when she pulled the trigger on the shooting range, Abbott said. Before the accident, she had pulled the slide back to get an empty shell that had jammed the pistol. She pulled the trigger on the gun before putting it back in her holster, which is when the gun went off.
10. FORT GIBSON, OK, 6/29/13: Three children playing with a gun left a young boy with a gunshot wound, police said. An 11-year-old boy was accidentally shot by a friend Saturday afternoon, said Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson. Pearson said he was told the bullet, from a .22-caliber revolver, went through the boy’s hand and lodged in his hip. There were three children, all about 10 or 11 years old, at a home in the 1600 block of Blue Stem Road in Fort Gibson when the shooting occurred, Pearson said. The dad of one of the children is a contractor who was there working on the house. The parents of the boy who was handling the gun said they kept it on the top shelf of a closet and thought it was unloaded, he said. However, one bullet remained.
11. SPRINGFIELD, KY, 6/29/13: Officials with the Washington County Sheriff's Office say a 16-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself Saturday. Officials say Austin McBride's mother called 911 around 7 a.m. The boy suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was flown to Kosairs Children's Hospital and pronounced dead later that afternoon. Deputies say McBride's stepfather told them he and Austin were getting ready to leave for a shooting competition. Officials say it appears Austin was cleaning the .22 caliber handgun when it went off. Family members say McBride was familiar with gun safety.
12. MARRERO, LA, 6/30/13: A 16-year-old was shot and killed when a friend was showing a group of people a semi-automatic rifle he believed to be unloaded, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said. The incident occurred around 1 a.m. in the 2000 block of James Drive in Marrero. According to the sheriff's office, 23-year-old Chris Cardon of Gretna told investigators that he and 16-year-old Trey Stahl were inside the home along with four other people and that he was showing the group a recently-purchased AR-15. A sheriff's office spokesman said Cardon told them that he didn't know there was a round in the chamber and that he pulled the trigger to clear the weapon and it went off, striking Stahl in the neck.
13. HOPKINSVILLE, KY, 6/30/13: A Hopkinsville, KY girl is reportedly shot in the face by her brother this morning as her grandfather began cleaning his gun. William Wyatt sits in the chair in his Linda Drive home where just hours ago, tragedy struck. Wyatt says, "I've got my pistol here, I was going to clean it and I put it there and the little boy-- he was standing here and I turned.. and all of a sudden, he picks the gun up and fires." Wyatt says his four year old grandson shot his 6-year old sister in the mouth. He says the bullet is lodged close to her spinal cord. Wyatt says he thought the gun was empty. UPDATE: She didn't make it.
14. COLUMBUS, OH, 6/30/13: A 15-year-old girl is recovering after being accidentally shot by a child. The shooting happened around 6:45 p.m. Sunday in the 900 block of McAllister Avenue on the near east side of Columbus. Columbus Police say a 9-year-old boy, who is member of the victim's family, was playing with a gun provided by another juvenile when it went off.
15. BELLEVUE, KY, 6/30/13: A northern Kentucky man is being held on a high bond after being accused of killing his brother. Anthony Sturgeon, 53, appeared in court Monday morning, just hours after police believe he shot and killed his younger brother, Randall Sturgeon, 52. Judge Karen Thomas shared more information about what apparently unfolded inside that home. Thomas said Anthony Sturgeon called 911 and said he shot his brother “on accident.” The judge also said the younger brother was found on the couch with a single gunshot to the chest. The dispute between the brothers apparently involved a computer.
16. JARVISVILLE, WV, 6/30/13: Sheriff Albert Marano said William Owens, 11, of Jarvisville, was lying in bed when he received a single gunshot wound to his chest. Just prior to the shooting, Owens' grandmother, Tina Owens, 57, of Jarvisville and Owens' father heard what they thought to be intruders tampering with their properties outside. Tina Owens went outside to investigate, taking along a .40 caliber pistol and fired multiple shots to scare away the intruders. One of the shots went astray, said Sheriff Marano, traveling into the house wall and hitting William Owens in the chest.  William later died from his injuries.
17. LACONIA, NH, 6/30/13: Laconia police were investigating what they called an accidental shooting that took place at an apartment on Summer Street just before 10 p.m. Sunday. Officers said a woman was taken to the hospital to undergo surgery. She was expected to recover.
18. LOGAN CO., OK, exact date unknown: A teenager remains in the hospital after investigators said he stuck a gun in his mouth and it accidentally went off. The incident happened over the weekend in Logan County near Waterloo and Post Rd. Officials responded to the call from a mobile home park on the 9600 block of E. Waterloo where a person was suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The boy was able to speak to officers and let them know he was not trying to kill himself. However, after speaking with the teen and a friend who were together at the home when the gun went off, the sheriff’s office has no reason to believe this wasn’t an accident. Logan County Sheriff’s Capt. Richard Stephens  said, “The other young man at the scene told him to make sure the gun was unloaded, the young man was so certain that it was already unloaded that he put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger.”
19. MILWAUKEE, WI, 7/01/13: The third shooting occurred at 12:35 a.m. Monday in the 2300 block W. Finn Place. Police say a 14-year-old Milwaukee male accidentally shot himself in the wrist while playing with a  gun. He was treated at a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries.
20. TOPEKA, KS, 7/01/13: A woman was injured Monday afternoon in an apparent accidental shooting in an apartment just west of downtown, Topeka police said. Police responded just before 4:30 p.m. to the report of a person who had suffered a gunshot wound in an apartment at 712 S.W. Western. Haggard said the circumstances surrounding the shooting weren’t clear. Just before the woman was loaded into the ambulance, he said, she told officers she had dropped the gun and it fired, wounding her.
21. PORTLAND, OR, 7/01/13: The Washington County Sheriff's Office said a 30-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the hand Monday while cleaning a .45-caliber handgun inside his apartment. An emergency crew responded to the 4900 block of Southwest Oleson Road at 12:49 p.m.
22. COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, 7/01/13: Colorado Springs police did not suspect foul play after a man told them he accidentally shot himself in the stomach Monday. Officers were dispatched to 2045 S. Corona Ave., east of Southgate Road, to a reported shooting around 12:53 p.m. Police found a 34-year-old man had mishandled a loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic gun and had shot himself.
23. SAN ANTONIO, TX, 7/02/13: An 87 year-old is recovering this morning after police say he accidentally shot himself. It happened at a home on Altgelt near Babcock. Officers at the scene say the elderly man was putting his gun in a case when it accidentally went off. The gun discharged hitting him on the finger.
24. FAIRFIELD, UT, 7/02/13:A 33-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the leg on Tuesday during firearm training in Utah County. Ryker Defense, a personal defense training company based out of Arlington, Va., was providing training Tuesday morning at Global One USA’s facility in Fairfield. The man put the gun back in its holster when it went off, according to a Utah County Sheriff’s Office news release.
25. CLARK CO., ID, 7/02/13: The shooting occurred at the Beaver Creek Farm in Clark County north of Idaho Falls. It appears that the 17-year-old was removing the .22 caliber rifle that had a round in the chamber from the back seat, holding it by the barrel when the rifle went off.
26. CARROLL CO., AR, 7/03/13: The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is investigating the shooting of a young boy by another youth in the County. The shooting is believed to be accidental. It happened when one of the boys took a shotgun, and while showing the other youth, the gun accidentally went off, shooting the youth in the stomach area.
27. NASHVILLE, TN, 7/03/13: A man called police after a bullet came soaring through his apartment early Wednesday morning. The incident occurred just before 4 a.m. at the Capital Towers apartment building located at 510 Gay Street in downtown Nashville. Once police responded, they went to the resident's neighboring apartment where the gunshot seemed to originate. Officials found that the bullet had also passed through that apartment, and went to the next one, finding the same situation there as well. Police finally found the origination of the gunshot three doors down from the initial caller's apartment. The bullet had passed through two apartments before stopping in the wall of the third. The man inside cooperated with authorities and explained that he was in the process of putting a trigger lock on his semi-automatic handgun when the gun fired. He told police that he did not realize the gun was loaded when it discharged.
28. BANNING, CA, 7/03/13: A Banning felon was locked up in the local jail Thursday night after it's believed a six-year-old boy found his gun and accidentally shot himself, police reported. The shooting happened Wednesday just after 5 p.m. at a home on North Hargrave Street, north of Wilson Street, according to Police Chief Leonard Purvis. Police were called out to a report of a six-year-old shot in his right thigh and foot, according to a release from Purvis issued Thursday night. A man identified as 34-year-old George Hernandez of Banning was found hiding in the out building— along with "a semi-automatic, 380 caliber handgun," Purvis said. Hernandez was arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, criminal firearm storage, child endangerment and for violating a community supervised release, according to Purvis.
29. ST. PETERSBURG, FL, 7/03/13: A group of U.S. Marshals employees were conducting shooting exercises at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office gun range around 9 a.m. Wednesday when one of them suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the upper leg, according to a news release. Officials are not releasing the name of the person due to their current work assignment. The person is a deputy marshal, a spokesperson told the Tampa Bay Times.
30. CHESTERFIELD CO., VA, 7/04/13: Authorities said a child was gravely wounded Thursday night when he was shot in the head, apparently by someone firing a gun into the air as part of a Fourth of July celebration near Swift Creek Reservoir in Chesterfield County. Chesterfield police said the child, a 7-year-old boy, was in extremely grave condition this morning at VCU Medical Center, where he was being treated for a gunshot wound to the top of his head. Police said the boy was walking with his father shortly before 9 p.m. near a Brandermill restaurant along the reservoir, where a crowd was gathering to wait for a fireworks display. As the father and son were walking, the child fell to the ground, bleeding from the head. UPDATE: He didn't make it.
31. INDEPENDENCE, MO, 7/04/13: A scary night for an Independence couple is also an eerie coincidence with a metro tragedy just two years ago. Dorothy Myers and her husband were actually watching a story about Blair Shanahan Lane on the evening news. She's the 11-year-old that was killed by a stray bullet fired in celebration during the fourth two years ago. That's when they heard some glass break in their dining room and realized a shot had come through their dining room window, gone through the wall and out the kitchen. Dorothy says her husband is probably lucky to be alive. "It was even at a level that my husband had been in the kitchen and had come back. He could have gotten hit because it's at that point where it's right in the head range," says Dorothy. Police say it was probably just a stray bullet shot off by someone celebrating the holiday in a nearby field and it's unlikely they'll be able to track that person down.
32. PARIS, NY, 7/04/13: A man who was shooting his rifle outside his home during target practice was arrested after he hit a neighbor's home, Oneida County sheriff's deputies said. Around 7:45 p.m. Thursday, deputies were called to 2351 Brennan Road after Andrea Meredith reported that she was outside her home when she heard several objects "whizzing" by her. Meredith then heard glass breaking and discovered that a bullet had gone through an exterior wall of her home, through a picture frame hanging on a bedroom wall and struck a sliding closet door across the room. The bullet went through the closet door, struck another object in the closet before falling to the floor. Deputies investigating the incident interviewed James V. Battista, 51, of Doolittle Road and determined he was outside of his home shooting his .22-caliber rifle in the direction of Meredith's home. His home is approximately one-quarter mile away from Meredith's home, deputies said.
33. OKMULGEE, OK, 7/04/13: Okmulgee police are investigating how a 3-year-old girl was shot at a local fireworks display July 4. The child was injured Thursday night after witnesses say she was struck by a falling object from the sky. She was in the parking lot of a local bank near Harmon Stadium watching the area fireworks display when she suffered a wound to her left shoulder. Witnesses originally thought she was hit by firework debris, but after being transported to a local hospital, doctors say the toddler was struck by a bullet.
34. FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, 7/04/13: A South Florida woman was wounded by what authorities believe was celebratory gunfire. The Broward Sheriff's Office reports that 26-year-old April Johnson was outside her brother's home watching Fourth of July fireworks Thursday night when she felt a sharp pain in her left leg. She looked down and saw blood coming from her upper thigh. Rescue workers responded and took the woman to a nearby hospital, where medical staff confirmed she had been shot. Doctors didn't remove the bullet. They released her and told her to schedule a follow-up with her doctor. Officials around the state made their annual attempt earlier this week to educate the public on the dangers of shooting guns haphazardly into the air.
35. ST. PETERSBURG, FL, 7/04/13: Susan Tuttle thought she heard a gunshot — not fireworks — in her neighborhood late Thursday night. When she woke early Friday, the 55-year-old discovered she was right: She found a hole in her ceiling and a bullet lodged in her bamboo table. "That's where my cat sleeps," Tuttle said. "I'm just glad it was raining, and Gizzy was away from the windows." Officers believe the bullet came from someone who fired a rifle into the sky to celebrate the Fourth of July, said St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz.
36. ST. PETERSBURG, FL, 7/04/13:  About 10 p.m. Thursday, another bullet fell from the sky about 3 miles from Tuttle's home at 10th Avenue S and 16th Street. Police said the bullet hit Robert Anthony Turner, 38, who was taken to Bayfront Medical Center with cuts on his neck and right eyebrow. The injuries were not life threatening.
37. BALTIMORE, MD, 7/04/13: Points for trying! Lassiter Basket bought his .22-caliber handgun in 1963, and in recent years, fired it only on a semiannual basis — the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve. Wary of the dangers of celebratory gunfire, he uses blanks and shoots within the privacy of his Forest Park rowhome. "Other people fire firecrackers," the white-haired 82-year-old said. "It's just a noisemaker." But on Thursday, Basket's Independence Day revelry took a bizarre turn as fragments of a blank burst through the wall of his great-granddaughter's bedroom, burning into her wrists and leg. While the 17-year-old escaped the ordeal with minor wounds, police say the incident should serve as a reminder that despite their name, blanks can pose a hazard.
38. MACON, GA, 7/04/13:  A 29-year-old woman was shot while watching fireworks from her front porch on the Fourth of July, the day after sheriff’s deputies warned against celebratory gunfire. Jenni Rowe, who lives in the 3400 block of Mogul Road, told investigators she heard a popping noise before she was wounded in the upper left shoulder, according to a news release from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office. “It sounds like celebratory gunfire. There were no cars going by or anything,” said Lt. Sean DeFoe, public affairs officer for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s still being investigated where the bullet came from.”
39. ALBANY, GA, 7/04/13: As many people celebrated Independence Day with fireworks and Barbeque, some illegally fired guns into the air.  And one stray bullet made its way into an East Albany home when a family was cooking dinner. When Pamela Hawkins heard a stray bullet fly through her roof and nearly struck one of her children, she was in shock.
40. BROOKLYN, NY, 7/04/13: New York City Police were questioning two people “of interest” Friday afternoon in connection with a shooting that injured a police officer responding to a call of gunshots being fired at a Brooklyn housing project during Fourth of July celebrations. Along with fireworks, it is not uncommon for revelers to celebrate the Fourth of July with gunfire, Mr. Kelly said, adding that the day is a “time of concern” for police officers on duty. “This is a night where you have celebration, if you will. Sometimes there are fireworks. We have also had experience with celebratory gunfire. Officers have to think about that as well,” Mr. Kelly said.
41. MITCHELL, SD, 7/04/13: A man suffered minor injuries shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday when he fell asleep on his back porch with a loaded handgun and accidentally shot himself in the midsection, authorities say. According to the Mitchell Police Division, the 34-year-old man was sitting alone in a lawn chair on the back porch of his residence, located in the 400 block of East Ninth Avenue, when a family member turned on the porch light and opened a nearby door. Startled by the light and noise, the man woke up and unintentionally pulled the handgun’s trigger and shot himself.
42. SEATAC, WA, 7/04/13: A Texas man says a stray bullet hit the rental car carrying his family as they stopped at a red light in the city of SeaTac, Wash. The man and his wife heard a loud "pop" Thursday but neither they nor their 2-year-old daughter was hurt. KOMO-TV reports (http://is.gd/...) that Shane Simpson says he first thought someone was throwing rocks. He pulled over to investigate and realized the car had a bullet hole. King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West says it's virtually impossible to determine where the bullet came from since it could have traveled a long way. She says celebratory gunfire on holidays like July 4 "is pretty common" - although dangerous.
43. HUMBOLDT, TN, 7/04/13: A 17-year-old Humboldt boy is charged as an adult for reportedly shooting his brother on the Fourth of July, according to police. Eyewitnesses told investigators Young and his brother Datrilveyon Moore were in an argument in a bedroom. Family members said the argument started over a pair of shoes and then escalated. They told WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News that Young's was shot in the groin area and thigh by a single bullet in the back bedroom of the home. He reportedly ran out of the house after the shooting, where he was found by officers. Family members believe while both brothers were wrestling, the gun accidentally fired. They did not believe the shooting was intentional and said Moore is a good kid who loves his brother.
44. FORT WAYNE, IN, 7/04/13: Sitting in her backyard Thursday night, Missy Vandersloot could hear fireworks exploding – a typical sound on the Fourth of July. Then, out of nowhere, she felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to the top of her shoulder and set it on fire. She said she screamed for her husband, Cameron Vandersloot, who had been watching television in their house on the near-northeast side of Fort Wayne. He came outside and saw his wife in a panic. "My first reaction was, you know, maybe hot amber fell out of the sky from the fireworks," he said. But when he put his hand on her shoulder, it felt moist. "I ripped her shirt off and saw a perfectly round hole in her shoulder with a trickle of blood coming out, and I knew right away," he said. "I immediately called 911 because I watch enough 'Cops' on TV that you know what a bullet hole looks like."
45. CHARLOTTE, NC, 7/04/13: Police are investigating after a woman was hit by a stray bullet outside of an uptown Charlotte nightclub on the 4th of July. According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, officers were called to Bar Charlotte, along the 300 block of North College Street after a woman was reportedly shot in the alley on Thursday evening. The incident happened around 10:55 p.m. Officers say the woman was standing in the alley when she was hit in the shoulder by a "falling projectile."  Witnesses on the scene say they didn't hear a gunshot or see anyone shoot a gun. Police believe that someone shot a round into the air from a different location and the bullet hit the woman as it was falling from the sky.
46. DETROIT, MI, 7/05/13: Not a GunFAIL, per se, but there's a pro tip to be derived from this, somewhere, seeing as this is our second shooting by kitchen appliance this year. Detroit Police are on the scene of an injured child on Rochelle, east of Hayes on the city's east side. The incident was originally thought to be a shooting. However, officials now say the child placed a bullet on the stove. The bullet then heated up and discharged, with shrapnel hitting the child in the throat. Neighbors are telling 7 Action News that a 9-year-old was home with his 14-year-old sister when the incident occurred.
47. COURTLAND TOWNSHIP, MI, 7/05/13: A Michigan State Police trooper accidentally discharged his firearm while attempting to help a reported suicidal man. Police and fire crews were called out to the area of Parmeter Avenue NE near 11 Mile Road in Courtland Township shortly after 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 5, for a suicidal subject who reportedly had a shotgun. While attempting to help the man, a gunshot was fired – which was determined to be an “accidental discharge” by Michigan State Police, according to police dispatch. No one was injured.
48. HEMPSTEAD, NY, 7/06/13: A Hempstead robbery suspect was arrested after Nassau County police said he accidentally shot himself in the leg while fleeing a stickup in which he allegedly pistol-whipped a driver. Police said Brandon Swopes flashed a handgun at two men who were sitting in a Lexus on Wellesley Street, opened the car door and stole their cell phones and cash at 2:36 a.m. Saturday. Third Squad detectives alleged the 23-year-old suspect struck one of the men in the face with the gun  several times before he ran away. While running, he tried to put the handgun in his waistband but pulled the trigger and shot himself in the right leg, police said.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO DAVID WALDMAN ON SUN JUL 07, 2013 AT 06:12 PM PDT.