Thursday, November 28, 2013

Gun Fail

More reasons why we need to reduce the number of guns in circulation...

Seven of the 28 guns discovered by TSA agents at airports this past week.
Seven of the 28 guns discovered by TSA agents at airports this past week.
Wow. What a week. Lots of states saw their hunting seasons open up, and with it, we count19 accidental shootings, plus one additional related accident involving a 14-year-old boy taken hunting for the first time, and who forgot the old one-still-in-the-chamber rule after dropping out his magazine, and had his gun go off during the car ride home. So if you count that one, I found 20 hunting accidents.
It was also a hot week for cleaning loaded guns (seven) and home invasion shootings (five). Plus another six accidents from people just looking at, playing with, or otherwise "handling" their weapons for no particular reason. Also on the high side: 11 minor victims of GunFAIL, ages 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16, 16 and 17.
Just one each in the categories of people who had their guns go off while out shopping (in a WalMart in Centerville, IA), one family member mistaken for an intruder (Seminole, FL), one person (a cop) shot during training at a gun range (North Charleston, SC) and one botched suicide that accidentally killed someone else (Traverse City, MI).
Other unique stories worthy of special note this week: A man cleaning his loaded gun in a Texas hotel room accidentally shot through the wall and killed a woman in the next room, right in front of her husband and teenage son. A customer with a gun in his car accidentally shot a mechanic at a Missouri car dealership when he dropped his car off for service and went to move the weapon. A woman waiting for a SEPTA train in Philadelphia was accidentally shot in the face by a man rummaging through a bag in which he kept his gun. Among all the train noise, he didn't even hear the shot, and was seen on surveillance tapes calmly shouldering his bag and leaving on the next train. An armored car driver left his gun behind in the bathroom of a school in Colorado (and is not even the first armored car driver to do this in a school this year). And the pastor of a Texas church, shooting at a skunk in his backyard, accidentally shot through his fence and hit a neighbor.
One GunFAIL that never came to be, at least not yet: a teenage deer hunter in Maine, answering nature's call, left his rifle leaning against a tree, only to have it stolen while he was gone. The perpetrator: a beaver, spotted swimming away with the rifle in a nearby stream.
Lastly, our running tally of guns discovered in schools this week: Washington, PA; Suwanee, GA; Evergreen, CO; Cleveland Heights, OH, and; St. Augustine, FL.
This week's full list, below the fold.
  1. CHELMSFORD, MA, 10/23/13: A man from Florida now living on Brick Kiln Road called police after his firearm accidentally discharged while he was cleaning it. Although he thought the gun was unloaded, there was still a round in the chamber that ricocheted into a mirror. The man told the officers that he is a government employee and thought his Florida firearms license was good in Massachusetts, which the officers dispatched to the call tell him is incorrect. From there, the firearm and related magazines owned by the man were seized, and the officers advised that the firearm would be held at the station until he obtained a Massachusetts license.
  2. SHREVEPORT, LA, 11/03/13: Shreveport police have arrested a man they say fabricated an armed robbery story to cover up the fact that he accidentally shot himself. Xavier Anderson, 24, was taken into custody Sunday morning and charged with criminal mischief for allegedly filing a false police report in connection with an incident back on November 3. Police say they were called to the emergency room at University Health in Shreveport, where Anderson had shown up with a gunshot wound to his left hand. According to police, Anderson told investigators he was walking on Hearne Avenue when a male suspect approached him, produced a handgun and attempted to rob him. Anderson alleged he grabbed the suspect's firearm and it went off, striking him in the hand. According to the victim, the suspect fled the scene of the crime on foot. Police say detectives began their investigation and, based on information gathered during the course of their inquiry, learned the victim had not been truthful with the responding officers and that, in fact, no attempted robbery had occurred. Authorities discovered Anderson actually accidentally shot himself in the hand and then fabricated the story about the robbery.
  3. PHENIX CITY, AL, 11/10/13:  Sgt. Daniel V. Davis, the Phenix City policeman who died on Nov. 10 after suffering massive blood loss, accidentally shot himself in the leg, authorities said Tuesday. “It is ruled accidental,” Russell County Corner Arthur Sumbry Jr. said. Davis, 30, was found around 10 p.m. with a gunshot wound in the parking lot of Carriage Hill Apartments on Summerville Road. The officer was pronounced dead at 11:30 p.m. In a report from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery, AL, Sumbry said Davis died of exsanguination, or complete loss of blood due to the gunshot wound in his leg. Davis was inside his parked unmarked police car when the handgun fired.
  4. ALBERT TOWNSHIP, MI, 11/15/13: Police say a hunter has died after being accidentally shot in Montmorency County. The Alpena News and the Petoskey News-Review report Michael Heisler was shot while hunting on Friday on state land in Albert Township, about 180 miles northwest of Detroit. His obituary says the 52-year-old was from St. Clair Township, near Port Huron. Police say Heisler didn't return from hunting on the first day of Michigan's firearms deer hunting season. He was found shot in the leg.
  5. LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, OH, 11/15/13: Police responded to possible gunshots in the 30 block of Fairlawn Avenue, where a woman reported a bullet had shattered her window, before charging 26-year-old Re’Yanna D. Simpson of 29 Fairlawn, Liberty, with receiving stolen property, endangering children and obstructing official business. After learning during their investigation that the shot had come from Simpson’s home, one of her children reported that contrary to her claim of having no firearm, he had accidentally fired a .40-caliber handgun, which police said had been stolen. The next-door neighbor was uninjured, and the boy was not charged, a report said.
  6. FAYETTEVILLE, NC, 11/16/13: Fayetteville police said a 4-year-old boy playing with a loaded handgun shot and killed himself Saturday morning. Police responded to a home in the 1600 block of Stanford Court just before 10:45 a.m. Investigators said Killian Perez got the loaded handgun from on top of a refrigerator and shot himself. Police said Killian's father, 32-year-old Jeffery David Perez, was home alone watching the 4-year-old and two twin babies while the mom was in Durham visiting a family member at the hospital. Detectives arrested Perez and charged him with involuntary manslaughter and failure to secure a firearm. He was taken to the Cumberland County Detention Center but has been released on his own recognizance. Perez is a soldier in the United States Army, stationed at Fort Bragg. This is the second fatal accidental shooting among children in Fayetteville since October. Last month, a 2-year-old girl found a gun under a couch in her family's living room.
  7. JENNINGS CO., IN, 11/16/13: Indiana Conservation Officers and the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department are investigating a shooting that happened on Saturday. Conservation Officers say Tony L. Dotson, age 20, of Indianapolis was treated at the Jennings St. Vincent emergency room for a gunshot wound to his foot that he reported he sustained while deer hunting. Dotson told officer he was walking out of the field from deer hunting when he slipped and fell, causing the shotgun he was carrying to discharge. He said the safety was on at the time of the incident.
  8. SAVANNAH, GA, 11/16/13: Savannah Chatham Metro Police report that a 20-year-old man is in critical condition after he accidentally shot himself with a revolver. Police spokesman Julian Miller says Zachary Hindri of the 200 block of Croatan Street was taken to Memorial University Medical Center after he shot himself around 10:30 last night. They say he had been playing with the gun at a friend's house on Whitfield Avenue. They say he had been spinning the chamber and pulling the trigger when the gun fired and struck him. UPDATE: He didn't make it.
  9. PRAIRIE CO., AR, 11/16/13: In Prairie County, a man was accidentally shot in his lower back on Saturday morning. The victim was reportedly assisting his daughter while getting out of her deer stand when the accident occurred. He was airlifted to Little Rock and was conscious with movement in his extremities at last report.
  10. NEVADA CO., AR, 11/16/13: There were two reported hunting accidents in Nevada County. In one incident, a man died after falling from his deer stand. The second incident involved an accidental shooting involving a man and a woman.
  11. NORTHMORELAND TOWNSHIP, PA, 11/16/13: A man hunting turkey was accidentally shot in the face Saturday morning near Northmoreland Township in Wyoming County, near the Luzerne County border. Rescue crews responded to a report of a man, in his 40s, who was shot with a 12-gauge shotgun near Butternut Lane. State police at Tunkhannock said the accident didn’t appear to be a fatality, but they said it would be investigated by the State Game Commission.
  12. KING GEORGE CO., VA, 11/16/13: An 11-year-old boy from Colonial Beach accidentally shot himself in the foot on Saturday during the opening day of general firearms season. The boy was deer hunting with his father and others in King George County, said Lee Walker, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. About 3 p.m., the boy’s gun accidentally discharged, hitting his big toe on the left foot, Walker said.
  13. CANANDAIGUA, NY, 11/16/13: A Canandaigua man was sent to the hospital Nov. 16 after he was accidentally shot by his own gun, said Ontario County sheriff's deputies. According to police, Kevin J. Perrin, 48, of 5269 Wells Curtice Road, was deer hunting on a family member's property, and he had a .44-caliber revolver in a holster on his belt. At 10 a.m., he stepped over a large log, which caused something—possibly a tree branch—to enter in the revolver's trigger guard and cause the gun to discharge, deputies said. Perrin was shot in the lower part of his right leg, police added.
  14. PHELPS, NY, 11/16/13: A Phelps man was in guarded condition Monday after shooting himself in the leg with a handgun while cleaning it in the bathroom. Nicholas Tavano, 27, shot himself in the left thigh Friday night. The round went into his left thigh and exited out the back of his left knee.
  15. MONTGOMERY CO., VA, 11/16/13: The Montgomery County Sheriff's Department tells ABC 13 that someone was shot while out hunting Saturday. Investigators aren't saying much, but the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are investigating the incident.
  16. SIREN, WI, 11/16/13: A Minnesota man who authorities say was shot with his own gun is facing criminal charges after confronting his former girlfriend and her boyfriend at a northwestern Wisconsin cabin. A criminal complaint says 53-year-old Ronald Aune, of Forest Lake, Minn., walked into the cabin in the Burnett County Saturday night armed with a handgun and yelled for his ex-girlfriend, Christine Johnson, who was hiding under a bed. After failing to find Johnson, officials say Aune ordered her boyfriend, Edwin Frank, into his truck. The complaint says Johnson walked out of the cabin, distracted Aune and Frank grabbed the gun, which fired as the two struggled. It says Frank hid the gun in the cabin and called 911. The St. Paul Pioneer Press says deputies located Aune Sunday at a hospital in Wyoming, Minn., where he was being treated for a gunshot wound.
  17. WESTFORD, NY, 11/16/13: A Long Island volunteer firefighter was killed in a hunting accident over the weekend in upstate New York. Charles Bruce, a 52-year-old father of two, was on an annual hunting trip with friends from the Malverne Fire Department when he was shot in the chest Saturday in Westford just east of Cooperstown. Otsego County District Attorney John Muehl said one of Bruce’s hunting partners may have mistaken him for a deer. Bruce finished hunting because it was getting dark and was coming out of the woods around 4:30 p.m., Muehl said. One of his hunting partners, who was in a tree stand about 60 yards away, saw what he thought to be an antler, Muehl said. “Since he’d shot deer in that area before, he shot over there,” Muehl told 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera. “When he went to look at his deer, it wasn’t his deer, it was his friend. I feel sorry for the person for shooting his best friend but on the same hand you say to yourself, ‘What on Earth were you thinking?’”
  18. LIBBY, MT, 11/16/13: Authorities in Northwest Montana say a Colorado hunter is in critical condition after another hunter shot him in the leg over the weekend. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office reports they responded to the hunting accident in the Libby Creek area at around 11 a.m. on Saturday. The 48-year-old Libby man said he accidentally shot the 60-year-old Colorado man - who he didn't know - in the upper thigh. The Libby man applied a tourniquet above the wound and drove the injured hunter to meet up with an ambulance.
  19. CLAYTON CO., GA, 11/16/13: A Clayton County high school student was shot to death in her own bedroom. Police said a teenager confessed to accidentally shooting V'ondra Olivaria, 16, in her Clayton County house on Silverwood Drive on Saturday. Brandon Williams, 17, is facing involuntary manslaughter charges, along with reckless endangerment, and possession of a handgun by a person under 18. "She was bubbly. She was loving, caring, giving, unselfish, just the sunshine. She was the sunshine," Yolanda Rincon, the teen's mother, told Channel 2's Rachel Stockman. Rincon was home on Saturday night when the shooting happened and remembered hearing a gunshot. "He shook my hand and not even five minutes later I heard a gun go off and my baby was gone," Rincon said. Rincon said another friend brought the teenager to her home and they had never met prior to Saturday night.
  20. READINGTON TOWNSHIP, NJ, 11/16/13: A 9-year-old boy was accidentally shot Saturday while hunting in Readington Township but escaped with only minor scrapes, authorities said. Six shotgun pellets hit the boy, including once in the face, but no medical attention was required, township police said today in a news release. According to police, the boy was hunting with his father and brother in a field off Higginsville Road when another group of hunters flushed out a pheasant in an adjacent field. The three hunters, who were members of the same hunting club as the boy’s father, were about 70 yards away when they fired two shots at the bird, police said. Five shotgun pellets struck the boy in the chest and another hit him in the face, police said. The pellets apparently had gone through the boy's clothing but hadn’t pierced his skin, police said. Police said the father and his sons were all wearing blaze orange during the accidental shooting.
  21. AKRON, OH, 11/20/13: Akron police arrested a 17-year-old boy Wednesday night after a shooting that injured a friend in West Akron. A girl, 16, was shot in the mouth about 7:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of Everton Drive. She was transported to Akron Children’s Hospital with injuries that do not appear to be life-threatening, police said. The shooting was believed to be accidental.
  22. FORT WORTH, TX, 11/16/13: Fort Worth police said a seven-year-old child was injured Saturday morning after finding a gun. Officer Daniel Segura said the weapon discharged after the boy discovered the weapon under a mattress at a residence in the 4900 block of Calumet Street. The boy, whose name was not released, was shot in the finger and transported to a hospital. He is expected to recover.
  23. SAN DIEGO, CA, 11/17/13: A 21-year-old man died of a gunshot wound early Sunday morning in Bay Ho after a gun that was being shown to him fell to the ground, accidentally fired and struck him in the chest, San Diego police said. Police went to investigate a reported shooting on Gallatin Way near Havasupai Avenue about 1 a.m. when a man with a gunshot wound was found lying in the front lawn of a residence, Lt. Mike Hastings said. Witnesses said a long-time friend was showing the victim a gun when it fell, went off and struck him in the chest, he said.
  24. EDISON, OH, 11/17/14: On Novem­ber 17, 2013 at approx­i­mately 11:50 a.m., Mor­row County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to the scene of a shoot­ing in the 4000 block of RD 246 in Edi­son, Ohio. Deputies found the vic­tim lay­ing on the rail­road tracks. The vic­tim, iden­ti­fied as Trevor Patrick Clark, age 15 of Mt. Gilead, Ohio, suf­fered a sin­gle gun­shot wound and was pro­nounced dead at the scene. The shooter is a 16-year-old male and is not being iden­ti­fied at this time. The Ini­tial inves­ti­ga­tion reveals this to be an acci­den­tal dis­charge which struck the victim. Mor­row County 911 received a call of a shoot­ing behind 4043 Vine Street in Edi­son at 11:50 a.m. Accord­ing to Sher­iff Steve Brenneman, Trevor Clark, 15, and his friends were walk­ing in the woods along the rail­road tracks. Clark had brought a weapon with him and passed it to a friend. The friend did not know that the weapon was loaded and acci­den­tally shot Clark. The friends then tried to carry the youth from the woods to try and get help but were unable to.
  25. MADISON, WI, 11/17/13:  Madison Police responded to a call on the 5100 block of Whitcomb Drive earlier today regarding a 59-year-old man who had accidentally shot himself. On arrival, officers determined the man had accidentally shot himself with his handgun while manipulating the weapon.
  26. ALPENA TOWNSHIP, MI, 11/17/13: A Posen woman was accidentally shot in the leg at a home in Alpena Township on Sunday. According to the Michigan State Police, officials were called to the scene shortly after 3 p.m. State Police said a 57-year-old Alpena Township man was loading a rifle in his home when he accidentally shot the 29-year-old woman.
  27. CENTERVILLE, IA, 11/17/13:  Police said a man whose gun accidentally fired in his pants pocket while at Walmart on Sunday kept on shopping, paying for his items and leaving as though nothing had happened. Christopher William Strube, 50, was arrested Monday and charged with discharging a weapon within city limits. Strube was shopping Sunday afternoon with his .45-caliber gun in his pocket, when a bottle he was carrying bumped into the gun and caused it to fire one round, police said. Strube told police that after the gun went off, he paid for his items and left the store. Employees and customers said they heard a gunshot and smelled gun powder. Police later found a .45-caliber bullet inside a can of beans. No one was injured, and Strube does have a valid concealed weapon permit, police said.
  28. ANDERSON CO., TX, 11/17/13: A 56-year-old Anderson County man was shot and later died from injuries sustained an accidental hunting incident Sunday in the county. Anderson County Sheriff's Office Deputy Don Myers and Corporal Gerald Kerr were dispatched to the 1500 block of FM 1137 in reference to a reported accidental shooting at 10 p.m. Sunday, according to ACSO Chief Deputy Troy Black. “Upon arrival, deputies were advised that the victim and the shooter were hunting hogs. The shooter fired his rifle at what he thought was a hog, striking the victim,” Black said. Paramedics responded and worked with the victim until he was transported to Palestine Regional Medical Center, where he later died.
  29. PENDLETON, OR, 11/17/13: Michael Bordenkircher, 28, shot himself while cleaning his gun Sunday night at his Pendleton home. Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts said the shooting was an accident and the wound was not life-threatening. Bordenkircher was cleaning a double-action .357 revolver when he shot his lower left leg at 1209 S.W. Theta Court.
  30. HOLCOMB, MS, 11/17/13: Three teenage boys were injured in a wreck Sunday after a hunting accident near Holcomb. According to Sheriff Alton Strider, a 16-year-old Grenada County male was accidentally shot through both legs while deer hunting shortly before 4 p.m. His friends loaded him into a 2006 Chevrolet pickup and rushed him east, to the hospital, in Grenada. The trip wasn’t a pleasant one, according to Mississippi Highway Patrol Public Affairs Officer Tony Dunn. A juvenile driving the truck veered off the road, hit some trees, overturned and landed upright in the ditch. “The driver was not injured,” Dunn said.
  31. LOLO, MT, 11/17/13: The hunter who shot a Missoula man’s dog on the assumption it was a wolf near Lee Creek campground on Sunday committed a tragedy but probably not a crime, according to county and state law enforcement officials. “If we have any more information, if the guy comes forward, it will be investigated further,” Missoula County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Paige Pavalone said Monday. “This is an awful accident. But if it doesn’t fit into a state statute that we can enforce, it’s very difficult to investigate. We’re more than willing to help this person. We want to figure out what happened.” Spence reported the killing of his dog, “Little Dave,” to the sheriff’s office Sunday afternoon. Spence told a deputy he was cross-country skiing on a road above the Lee Creek campground with his three malamute dogs when a hunter shot one of them on the road. According to the deputy’s report, Spence said Little Dave was wearing a collar with a light when it was shot about 20 yards in front of him. “The hunter resumed fire and shot approximately four more times, killing the dog,” Pavalone quoted from Spence’s statement. The deputy confirmed the dog was wearing a lighted collar and was shot at least twice, in the neck and rear leg.
  32. SEMINOLE, FL, 11/18/13: A Seminole man was arrested Nov. 18 after accidentally shooting a 17 year old under his care. James Harrison Wolf, who has prior convictions of crimes in California, is being held without bond in the Pinellas County on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Wolf also is a registered sex offender. According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s detectives the shooting happened just before midnight Sunday, Nov. 17, at a private residence on Anchorage Circle in Seminole. Detectives said Taylor Titus, 17, left his home about 9 p.m. without telling his caregivers, James Wolf, 55, and Nancy Wolf, 56, and returned home shortly before midnight. When Titus got home, Wolf was preparing to go to sleep and had turned off all the lights in the home. Wolf then heard a noise coming from the back of the home, grabbed his handgun and went to check his residence. Wolf noticed a subject near the backdoor and ordered him to freeze. The subject began to walk towards Wolf. Wolf then fired one shot, hitting the subject. When the subject stumbled towards Wolf, he realized it was Titus.
  33. NELSON, MT, 11/18/13: A 14-year-old boy was shot accidentally with a .30-06 caliber rifle while traveling in a vehicle, Sheriff Leo Dutton reported on Monday. The shooting, according to Dutton’s early evening email, was reported by the boy’s father at about 4 p.m. The teenage boy and father had been hunting in the Nelson area. The gunshot wound is reported to be in the upper left shoulder, and the bullet exited the shoulder, according to the sheriff’s email. MORE: According to Sheriff Dutton, the teen had not been hunting before. He used a magazine drop to unload the weapon. It became apparent later, however, there was still one shell in the chamber. On the drive back to camp, the son had placed the butt of the gun on the vehicle floor and the muzzle toward the roof. They hit a bump causing the rifle to discharge. The bullet struck the son in the right bicep, exiting the right shoulder. The bullet exited the roof of the pickup truck.
  34. MOLALLA, OR, 11/18/13: An Oregon City teen was airlifted to a hospital on Monday after he accidentally shot himself in the leg during a hunting trip, Clackamas County officials said. Drew Adams, 18, had just wrapped up a day of archery hunting south of Molalla around 4:30 p.m. and was entering his truck near Dickey Prairie Road when the incident occurred, the Clackamas County Sheriff's office said. As the teen removed a handgun he had with him from its holster, the weapon discharged and struck Adams through his right thigh, officials said.
  35. WATSONVILLE, CA, 11/18/13: A 16-year-old boy is recovering in the hospital, after police say he accidentally shot himself in the foot. According to police, the teen had dropped out of a gang and was afraid of gang retaliation and took the gun from his parents safe. The gun accidentally went off when the teen put the gun down his pants.
  36. IMBODEN, AR, 11/18/13: Law enforcement is investigating the death of an 88-year-old woman after a man told them he accidentally discharged his rifle while cleaning it Monday night. According to reports, law enforcement was called to the 400 block of Muddy Lane in Imboden around 7 p.m. where Lois Waddell Keller was found dead. Her body as well as other evidence collected at the scene has been sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for examination. Andrew Lamb, 35, told deputies and State Police Special Agents that he was cleaning a rifle, and it accidentally went off.
  37. MAYVILLE, MI, 11/18/13: A Lapeer woman shot herself in the thigh and suffered a "life-threatening" injury while hunting in near Mayville in Tuscola County's Fremont Township, Michigan State Police at the Caro Post report. Troopers were called Monday, Nov. 18, at 3:16 p.m., to a field on private property along Maier north of Snover, after the 22-year-old woman called 911 and said she shot herself with a 20-gauge shotgun, police said.
  38. KWETHLUK, AK, 11/18/13: Alaska State Troopers say 6-year-old Marcus Savage is in stable condition at an Anchorage hospital after shooting himself in the stomach with a .22 caliber pistol. According to trooper dispatch, the Kwethluk child was playing with the loaded gun Monday morning when it discharged, hitting him in the abdomen. The boy's father, 36-year-old Evon Savage, contacted troopers, and the wounded child was flown to Anchorage.
  39. IRVING, TX, 11/19/13: A guest at an Irving hotel died early Tuesday when a bullet fired from an adjoining room pierced a wall and struck her. Traci Reedy, 48, was staying with her husband and teenage son when she was shot about 1 a.m. at the Microtel Inn off Airport Freeway and Belt Line Road, authorities said. No one else was injured. Police say there was a man and woman staying in the room where the shot was fired. Investigators are questioning them to determine why the handgun went off. UPDATE: Police say they have arrested the Dallas man they believe fired the fatal shot. Michael Shane Gray, 36, faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide in this morning’s shooting. “Michael Gray was negligent in the way he handled the firearm,” police spokesman John Argumaniz said. Investigators say Traci Reedy of Irving was sitting on a bed watching TV when a bullet from Gray’s handgun came through the wall and struck her in the chest. Her husband and teenage son were in the room with her and immediately called 911. She died at the hospital. UPDATE: Police don’t believe Gray was involved in any dispute with the woman but may have been cleaning his gun when it discharged.
  40. BRADENTON, FL, 11/19/13: A 62-year-old Bradenton man accidentally shot himself in the hand Tuesday afternoon, according to a Bradenton Police Department report. About 2:27 p.m., the man was cleaning his gun when the gun went off, sending a bullet through his left hand and into his knee. The shooting happened in the 3600 block of Summerwind Circle, according to the report.
  41. TRAVERSE CITY, MI, 11/19/13: A 28-year-old woman is dead after a man said he tried to commit suicide but fired a fatal shot that struck her instead. The shooting happened around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, at an apartment at 3 Mile Road and Aero Park Drive, UpNorthLive.com is reporting. The man, 33, suffered a gunshot wound to his hand and underwent surgery at Munson Medical Center, the news station reported.
  42. MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI, 11/19/13: “Horseplay” with a handgun led to 17-year-old Vance Thompson accidentally and fatally shooting his close friend, Charles O. White Jr., also 17, in the head as the two walked down the street, according to Muskegon Heights police. The shooting happened around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, at Leahy Street and Hume Avenue in Muskegon Heights. White died after more than a day on life support at a local hospital.
  43. OAKLEY, UT, 11/20/13: A man was accidentally shot in the knee by his girlfriend Wednesday morning during a hunting trip. Police said the accident happened around 8 a.m. in the Elk Ridge area near Oakley. Capt. Justin Martinez with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office said the couple had just finished hunting and were loading their truck when it happened. He said the woman was unloading a Remington Bolt Action Rifle when it accidentally discharged, hitting her boyfriend in the knee.
  44. OLD ORCHARD BEACH, ME, 11/20/13: Maine game wardens are investigating an incident that occurred at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday involving two hunters who shot at a buck and missed. Instead, their bullets whizzed into the back yard of a home. The woman who lives there was out in her back yard with her two dogs when the shots flew past her. Both hunters are well known in the town of Old Orchard Beach. One is a town councilor, Kenny Blow, owner of Blow Brothers Waste Industries. The other is a real estate developer, Tim Swenson, who built the Dunegrass golf course in town as well as several housing projects. Toni MacQuinn is the woman who the hunters accidentally shot toward. She told CBS 13 News she saw Kenny Blow aiming his gun at her house, when she yelled at him to stop. One of the bullets went right through the fence of MacQuinn's home. Game wardens tell us that area, right off of Cascade Road, is no place to hunt deer. We counted as many as 20 homes in just that immediate area.
  45. AKRON, OH, 11/20/13: Akron police arrested a 17-year-old boy Wednesday night after a shooting that injured a friend in West Akron. A girl, 16, was shot in the mouth about 7:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of Everton Drive. She was transported to Akron Children’s Hospital with injuries that do not appear to be life-threatening, police said. The shooting was believed to be accidental. The boy was charged with aggravated assault and having weapons under disability.
  46. MONTOURSVILLE, PA, 11/21/13: Police in Lycoming County found a man with a gun and a gunshot wound on the street Thursday morning. Authorities said they found the man on Cherry Street in Montoursville around 2 a.m. According to police, a 26-year-old Army veteran had some kind of flashback when he fired off shots accidentally hitting himself in the leg.
  47. FARMINGTON, MO, 11/21/13: A Farmington auto dealership employee is in stable condition after being shot in the leg just after noon. According to a spokesman of the dealership and police, a customer had pulled his vehicle into a service bay. A company employee was at the driver's door collecting information off the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle went to the passenger side and was adjusting or doing something with the seat. A rifle behind the seat accidentally discharged, the bullet traveling through the seat and striking the worker in the leg.
  48. PHILADELPHIA, PA, 11/21/13: A woman has been rushed to the hospital after being hit by bullet fragments and shrapnel following an accidental shooting at a SEPTA El station in University City. SEPTA Police say a man rummaging around in his bag at SEPTA's Market-Frankord Line station at 40th and Market around 3:15 p.m. on Thursday when a gun inside the bag fired. The bullet hit a metal bench, bounced off the wall, through a trash can and then hit the 22-year-old woman sitting on a bench nearby in the face and the arm. In surveillance video released by police and shown above, the woman can be seen grabbing her face after the incident. The man then throws the bag over his shoulder and calmly walks away. The woman was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She is in stable condition. Following the discharge, the man then got onto an eastbound El train. Police say they are now looking for the man. Investigators believe the man may be a security guard, based on the way he is dressed, and that he may have not known that his gun fired. "We think because of the noises down there, he may have not have known that the gun discharged," said Lt. John Walker. MORE: She was on her way to see the newHunger Games movie. "I was sitting there, all I heard was a 'boom' and my face started bleeding," she said. "I'm just happy I'm OK. Happy I have my life and can walk away now."
  49. EVERGREEN, CO, 11/21/13: A parent volunteer found a gun and belt left by an armored car driver in a restroom at Marshdale Elementary School. The gun was found Thursday by a member of the parent group "Watchdog Dads." It was turned over the to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. The driver was making a routine stop at the school. The gun was left in an adult restroom. The Jeffco Sheriff's Department will work with the district attorney to determine if any charges will be filed. No one at the school was injured.
  50. LAFAYETTE, GA, 11/21/13: Matthew Tyler Webb was hunting deer Thursday night when he heard rustling and saw movement in the woods. But he didn't know what it was, any of it, he later told police. The moving and noise quickly stopped. In the silence, police say, Webb fired his rifle. Immediately, he heard a scream. About 15 yards away, across a thicket of briar, Webb found his girlfriend bleeding. He had shot Audrey Mayo in the lower leg. After the shooting, Webb told investigators he took several illegal drugs Thursday. Then, Webb told investigators, he and Mayo hung out on the roof of his house. As they sat together, Webb said he watched several deer run through the woods on the other side of Hillsdale Road, right next to Lowell Greene Recreation Center. Webb grabbed a rifle and walked into the woods. Webb told police that Mayo said she would stay in the house. But, instead, she decided to join her boyfriend.
  51. NORTH CHARLESTON, SC, 11/22/13: A South Carolina corrections officer was hospitalized Friday morning after accidentally shooting himself in the leg while attempting to reholster his gun at a shooting range. According to WMBF News, deputies were called out to Trader World Gun Range for an accidental discharge of a firearm.
  52. COLUMBUS, GA, 11/22/13: A possible accidental shooting has left a 15-year-old boy wounded in the neck and another teen charged with reckless conduct, Columbus police said Saturday. The victim was taken to St. Francis Hospital after the 11:55 p.m. Friday shooting in the 600 block of Parkchester Drive. The boy was in good condition, police said. Anthony Jamarcus Carey, 17, also was charged with minor in possession of a pistol and held in the Muscogee County Jail on bonds totaling $2,750. In a report, police said two officers were sent to the home to check on a possible accidental shooting in the bedroom. At the scene, they discovered the victim and possible suspect were taken to the hospital by a relative.
  53. SINTON, TX, 11/22/13: The Pastor of The First Baptist Church in Sinton could be facing charges for deadly conduct after police say he accidentally shot his neighbor. Police say, Pastor Randy Samuels tried to shoot a skunk in his backyard, but the bullet slid underneath the fence and hit his neighbor in the arm. She has since made a full recovery. Investigators have finished their investigation and have turned the case over to the District Attorney. It will be up to the D.A. to decide whether to pursue charges.
  54. MISSOULA, MT, 11/22/13: A 59-year-old man who accidentally fired a gun in his apartment at the University Village in Missoula on Friday evening is facing charges. The University of Montana Office of Public Safety charged him Saturday morning with discharging a firearm within city limits after the incident. The man, who reported the incident to authorities said he was cleaning a .308 rifle when it accidentally discharged. A bullet went through the wall into an adjoining apartment, which was empty because the neighbors were moving, UM Police Capt. Ben Gladwin said, adding that no one was hurt. The man, who works for UN, and is also a part-time student, said the firearm was owned by his brother, Gladwin said.
  55. KELSO, WA, 11/22/13: A 36-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the leg with a .40-caliber handgun at a Kelso home Friday, according to a dispatch report. Paramedics were called to a home in the 1100 block of South Fourth Avenue, where the man was alert and breathing. The man’s condition was not available Saturday.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO DAVID WALDMAN ON TUE NOV 26, 2013 AT 02:50 PM PST.

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