Gun Fail

Sun Sep 01, 2013 at 03:18 PM PDT

GunFAIL XXXIII

by David Waldman

 

Five of 44 guns discovered by TSA at airports around the country this week.

 

It's Back-to-School time! Many areas of the country saw their kids back in school during this past week, while elsewhere, students will be returning over the next two weeks. So it's only fitting to note the two particular kinds of GunFAIL that coincide with the season. First, there's the old gun-in-school problem. We had eight of those in primary and secondary schools around the country. Specifically in St. Louis and Ferguson, MO; Griffin, Sandy Springs and Atlanta, GA; Mobile, AL; Winston-Salem, NC, and; Spring Hill, KS. From the post-secondary world, we have the story of the Texas Tech students who thought it would be fun to fire guns off the balcony of their off-campus apartment. Let college kids bring their guns to school? Sure. Why not?

 The second kind of seasonal GunFAIL demonstrated this week: the cancellation of classes and/or athletic events due to the shooting death of a local student. We saw that one this week in Drain, OR, and last week in New Boston, TX. It's worth noting, however, that such cancellations don't occur for every accidental shooting. They tend to happen when it's a member of the football team who gets shot. Doubly so when they're accidentally shot by another member of the football team.

In other GunFAIL headlines, there was the now-famous story of the Connecticut man who, while lying in wait for a pesky raccoon, sneezed, fell off his chair, and shot himself in the leg. And the baffling story of the accidental shooting at the "Little Buckaroos Reading Roundup" event, hosted by the Lodi, CA SWAT team. There's just so much to wonder about in that one! The York, SC school resource officer responsible for our second on-campus security guard accidental discharge of the new school year. And of course, the Anchorage, AK GunFAIL two-fer, in which two Responsible Gun Owners^TM shot themselves in the leg, in succession, with the same gun.

The more routine news: three accidents while cleaning loaded guns; two "home invasion" shootings; three GunFAILs involving four cops (in one incident, two drunk cops shot at one another in a fight over loud music at a campground); one gun range accident, and; two "intruders" who turned out to be family members.

The kids of GunFAIL this week were mercifully few, aged 3, 4, 4, 16 and 16. And once again, our count includes a 4-year-old girl accidentally shot by her 6-year-old brother.

1. INDEPENDENCE, OH, 8/13/13: A 61-year-old woman called a hotel on Rockside Road Monday, August 16 to report she had checked out three days earlier and left a loaded handgun in her room. The woman said she is from out of state and came to Cleveland for a two-day stay, bringing the gun with her for protection. The hotel manager found the gun in a drawer of the nightstand secured in a black box with five rounds in the magazine and one round in the barrel.
2. COMER, GA, 8/23/13: On Aug. 23, Deputy Darren Sartain was dispatched to Athens Regional Medical Center, where a man said he was at his home on Pine Valley Farm Road, Comer, cleaning his gun when it accidentally discharged. The bullet hit the man in the ankle.
3. CUDAHY, WI, 8/23/13: A 25-year-old Cudahy man was cited for endangering safety with a weapon, after he accidentally fired his handgun in his apartment in the 2900 block of East Adams Avenue at 11:30 p.m. Aug. 23 sending a bullet through the wall of his own apartment, a small fence, the wall of a garage and into a car two addresses away. The man readied the gun when he thought that a burglar was trying to enter the apartment, but found that it was only his son. He returned to his bedroom to put the gun away and tripped on some shoes, falling to the floor and discharging the gun. The man agreed to pay for any damages caused in the incident.
4. CHICAGO, IL, 8/24/13: A woman accidentally shot herself when a gun went off during a fight early Saturday in the South Shore neighborhood. The woman was in a fight in the 7800 block of South Constance Avenue about 2:50 a.m. when a gun she was carrying accidentally went off, police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said. She was shot in the chest and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where she is in “stable” condition early Saturday, Alfaro said.
5. RICHMOND, VA, 8/24/13: A "very young person" was wounded in an apparent accidental shooting late Saturday and Richmond police said one person has been arrested. The shooting occurred in the 1300 block of Coalter Street, according to Richmond police spokesman James Mercante. The victim's exact age was not immediately available but the injury was described as non-life threatening. UPDATE: A Richmond man now faces a felony charge in the accidental shooting of a 4-year-old girl. Demond Brown is charged with discharging a firearm within a building or dwelling. The child is expected to be okay. Brown's gun went off accidentally Saturday night inside a home in the 1300 block of Coalter Street. UPDATE 2: Brown was in the apartment next door, and accidentally shot four-year-old Canilah Greene through the wall.
6. BROOKLYN, NY, 8/24/13:  The heartless creep accused of shooting a 3-year-old Brooklyn boy in the head asked the tot’s babysitter to hold off on calling 911 to give him time to stash the gun, prosecutors charged Sunday. Akeem Bernard was ordered held on $75,000 bail in the apparently accidental shooting of Tharell Edward in the boy’s second-floor apartment on E. 21st St. in Flatbush on Saturday. Prosecutors said Bernard, 22, who lives in the same building as the boy and was hanging out with the babysitter, stashed a black semiautomatic gun in a shoebox near the boy’s head on Saturday. Bernard had been intoxicated all day, cops said.
7. NEW HAVEN, CT, 8/24/13: An 81-year-old man accidentally shot himself while trying to combat a raccoon, police said. Officers responded to Yale-New Haven Hospital shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday regarding a shooting, police said. When they arrived, James Pace Sr. told officers he had been having a problem with a large raccoon scratching at his back door. Pace told police he armed himself with a .22 caliber rifle and waited for the raccoon to show, but while waiting, he sneezed and fell out of his chair. Police said it was then he realized he had accidentally shot himself in the shin.
8. CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MI, 8/24/13:  A 41-year-old Harper Woods man accidentally fatally shot himself while helping clean out a house on E. Horseshoe Drive (north of Millar) in Clinton Township, police said Monday. The shooting occurred Saturday afternoon, according to Detective Capt. Richard Maierle of the township police department. An assistant Macomb County prosecutor concurred with police and ruled the shooting accidental. “An employee for the moving company found a M-1 carbine in the closet,” Maierle said. “It accidentally went off when he had the barrel pointed at him and handed it to his step-father.”
9. MURFREESBORO, TN, 8/24/13: There was an accidental discharge of a weapon on Saturday night that Murfreesboro Police are investigating. A man who is enlisted in the U.S. Army thought he had cleared his .45-caliber handgun but when he inserted the magazine it discharged, according to a police incident report. When the gun discharged the 21-year old was hit in his Femoral Artery and the bullet became lodged next to the femur. Witnesses told police, “He shoved the magazine back into the pistol and it went off.”
10. LEMONWEIR, WI, 8/24/13: The Juneau Co. Sheriff's Department says 28-year-old Joshua Bader died from an accidental gunshot wound to his upper leg. Deputies say Bader was out with friends on Friday. At some point after he returned to his residence, he was handling a .22 caliber handgun when the gun accidentally discharged, striking him in the upper left leg. A short time later, Bader died from his injury. He was found Sunday morning.
11. WASHINGTON, LA, 8/24/13: Washington police made a second arrest related to a weekend’s carjacking, but this time it was one of the victims who was shot in the leg during the event. Rochelle Bob, 24, of 715 W. Vine St., was arrested on a charge of filing a false police report after authorities said she confessed she had inflicted a gunshot wound on herself Saturday night. Bob originally told police she sustained the wound as her boyfriend was being car-jacked. Police were called to the area at around 11:30 p.m. Saturday for shots fired and pursued Raekwon Mitchell as he fled from the scene before arresting him on a multitude of charges, including attempted first-degree murder. Bob was the only one treated for injury. Bob later admitted she had accidentally shot herself when she attempted to defend her boyfriend from the carjacking.
12. LODI, CA, 8/24/13: Lodi police said a young boy caused a SWAT team member’s firearm to discharge during a reading event hosted for children last Saturday. The SWAT member suffered a minor flesh wound and police are continuing to investigate the incident, Lodi Police Capt. Chris Piombo said. During the Little Buckaroos Reading Round-up event, Officer Robert Rench was helping a boy try on pieces of SWAT team gear, when another young boy approached unnoticed. The boy, who witnesses told police was about 6 years old, reached his finger toward the gun and pulled the trigger, Piombo said. Besides Rench, no one was injured. But a woman left with the child who fired the gun, and so far police have been unable to identify him. The Glock handguns that SWAT members carry aren’t equipped with a safety, Piombo said. “There is nothing we could have done differently,” he said. “It was just an accident. It boggles the mind why a child would do that. It’s an unfortunate incident,” he said. “We’re thankful none of the community members were hurt and that Robert was alright. I think we all learned something from it.”
13. POLAND, ME, 8/24/13: A 71-year-old Poland man brandished a handgun and tried to fight off two men who broke into his mobile home early Saturday morning, police say, but he was overpowered and the intruders took off with the gun, clothes, drugs and other items. Police say two men broke into the 21 Julie Street home of Ronald St. Pierre around 5 a.m., entering through a window while St. Pierre was asleep. St. Pierre woke and ordered the men to leave. Police say the elderly man retrieved his handgun in an attempt to get the men to leave, but the two overpowered him. The gun went off during the struggle, but it appeared no one was shot. The men fled the mobile home with several items, including the loaded, silver .44 Magnum revolver with a long barrel.
14. KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP, MI, 8/25/13: Kalamazoo Township Police got a 9-1-1 call very early Sunday morning that a man who had been shot in the 35-hundred block of Market Street was on his way to Borgess Emergency in a private vehicle. They drove up in an F-250 Ford Superduty Pick-up with an extended cab. The victim, who had been shot in the head, was sitting in the back seat. He was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. The four others in the truck say the 24-year-old man from South Carolina had been handling the gun when it went off and the bullet struck him in the head.
15. JERSEY CITY, NJ, 8/25/13: Port Authority police confirmed this afternoon that a woman, a bystander, and the suspected gunman all sustained gunshot wounds in the shooting that occurred this morning around 5:10 a.m. on a PATH train that was pulling into the Newport PATH Station in Jersey City. Tari Turpin, 34, of East Orange, has been charged in the shooting and was apprehended by the nearby Pep Boys store shortly after the shooting, Port Authority Police spokesman Joe Pentangelo said. Police recovered a 9mm Glock handgun, Pentangelo said. Diamond Drummer, of Hillside, told WABC-TV that a man -- later identified a Turpin -- was sleeping next to her and falling on her. When she politely complained, the man pulled out a gun, Drummer told the station. At that point, her brother intervened, and the man put away the weapon, but when her brother remarked "Who pulls out a gun for something like this?" the man again drew the weapon and started firing, Drummer told the station. Drummer was struck in the ankle, another man -- not her brother -- was struck by a bullet in his hand, and by the time Turpin was apprehended, he had sustained a gun wound in his left leg. Drummer told WABC-TV, the gunman, accidentally shot himself in the leg.
16. CHARDON TOWNSHIP, OH, 8/25/13: Geauga County Sheriff deputies responded to a Clark Road location about 7:15 p.m. Sunday for a reported accidental shooting. The victim, a female, was transported to the hospital after being hit in the shoulder with pellets from a shotgun. Lt. John Hiscox said the incident was called in as accidental but an investigation is initiated for all shooting events. UPDATE: A Chardon Township woman was shot as a result of a fight between two men involving a gun, according to the Geauga County Sheriff's Office. Gary Schussler and Anthony Molchak engaged in a verbal altercation Sunday evening at the time of a child exchange, according to reports. Schussler pulled a firearm out at one point and eventually set it down. Molchak then picked up the gun and accidentally fired it toward his own wife, shooting her in the back, Geauga County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Scott Hildenbrand said.
17. CAMAS, WA, 8/25/13: A Camas man was sent to the hospital after accidentally shooting himself late Sunday night. Scott Olson, 53, was using the flashlight mounted on his .40 caliber handgun to unlock a padlock in a dark room when the gun slipped and accidentally fired, Camas police Sgt. David Chaney said. Police and paramedics responded to his residence, 926 N.W. Greeley St., about 11:50 p.m. “He tried to catch it as it fell and it went off,” he said. The bullet went through his finger and lodged into his thigh, Chaney said.
18. QUEENS, NY, 8/25/13: Sources said the shooting took place because Robert Smalls was irate that Quasaun had been busted for shoplifting over the weekend and released by cops after being issued a desk appearance ticket. According to a criminal court complaint, Quasaun told investigators that he and his father began fighting after the teen returned to their 59th Street home about 4:30 a.m. yesterday. Robert Smalls opened fire after blocking two punches, the complaint says. During an arraignment this morning, Queens prosecutor Robin Kwalbrun said Robert Smalls told cops the shooting was an accident, saying that he was sleeping when his son entered the home and that he mistook his offspring for an intruder. “He heard steps in his home," Kwalbrun said. “He shouted, 'Who is it?' No lights were on. He said 'Police, stop.' He saw the person grab at his waist, he pulled his weapon and fired." Kwalbrun said Robert Smalls told cops: "By the time I realized it was my son, the gun discharged.”
19. PLAINS TOWNSHIP, PA, 8/25/13: A woman in her 70s is recovering after being shot on school property in Plains Township. Police say a .22 caliber bullet hit the woman Sunday night just outside of Wilkes-Barre at the running track outside the Leo E. Solomon Educational Complex. Dorothy Sarnick of Plains Township was just about to take her nightly walk when a stray bullet hit her in the arm. Police say this is the first incident of its kind here at the school. “It`s very strange, kids are down here all the time. I walk my family down here, my children, kids are playing, the football team practices over here on this field, school property, we`re very concerned about this,” said Plains Township Police Officer Timothy Minnick. Now police are working to piece the puzzle together and figure out exactly where the bullet was shot from and who might have fired the gun. Some are speculating this all might have been an accident. “I have heard of a lot of hunting in the back woods through the years especially quite a few years back, and I hope that it was something like that it was just an error,” said Rigle. With school slated to start later this week police and parents say figuring out exactly what happened here is their top priority.
20. CHINO, CA, 8/25/13: An apparent booze-fueled dispute over loud music between two groups at a Chino campground over the weekend escalated to the point where men from both sides drew guns and opened fire. No one was hurt, but the two alleged gunmen have plenty to explain. It turns out that the rival gun-toting campers were both Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. Authorities suspect the off-duty cops learned they were colleagues only after their campground showdown. Chino police officers were called to Prado Regional Park early Sunday morning. They arrested the deputies — Dejay Barber, 44, and Matthew Rincon, 24 — on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm.
21. BRADLEY CO., TN, 8/25/13: Detectives have released additional information concerning a shooting incident which killed a Bradley County man Sunday evening. Cody Tatum, 28, died from a gunshot wound to his chest. Bob Gault, media relations coordinator for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies responded about 10:45 p.m., to a residence at 3248 Spring Place Road where two people had suffered gunshot wounds. Detective Lt. David Shoemaker said Tuesday that initial investigation found that Tatum and his girlfriend, Gaberilia Wendy Gasparian, 33, were sitting together on a couch. Both were reportedly struck by the same .40 caliber bullet. Gasparian was reportedly sitting in the chair with Tatum with her back to his chest when Tatum was alleged to have turned the barrel of the gun back toward them and told her to pull the trigger, according to Shoemaker. At some point, the gun had been reloaded. “She didn’t know it was loaded and reached and pulled the trigger,” Shoemaker explained. The bullet traveled through her chest, exited her back, entered Tatum’s chest and exited his back and lodged in the couch, according to the investigator.
22. YORK, SC, 8/26/13: A school resource officer's weapon was accidentally fired into a sidewalk outside York Comprehensive High School this morning, the York County Sheriff's Office said. Three other people were nearby, but no one was injured. The deputy involved was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, the sheriff's office said, and another school resource officer was assigned to the school. UPDATE: He's back on the job.
23. CHEATHAM CO., TN, 8/26/13: A man was hospitalized after his neighbor and best friend shot him in the eye, and, by all accounts, it was just a terrible accident. Investigators said a man was cleaning his brand new gun at a duplex in Cheatham County when the gun accidentally fired. A .44 caliber bullet traveled through a wall and struck the victim, James Kratz, right in the eye as he sat in his recliner eating breakfast. We're told the man responsible for the accident is so remorseful he is now getting rid of all of his guns, and deputies hope other gun owners learn from his mistake.
24. TOBYHANNA TOWNSHIP, PA, 8/26/13: Two men who attempted to rob a Tobyhanna Township home are in custody after one of them was accidentally shot in the head by an accomplice. According to police, Jehova Maldonado, 18, and Martin Ranko, 20, were part of a group of four men who broke into a home in the Emerald Lakes community around 9:30 p.m. Monday, looking to rob the residents. Three people were inside the house, one was injured, Pocono Mountain Regional Police said. The victims told police that four men broke into the residence, three armed with handguns and one with a crowbar. The men yelled “where's the money at?” and pointed the guns at them. The would-be burglars fired multiple shots in the house. At one point, one of them accidentally shot one of their accomplices in the head, the victims told police.
25. COLLINSVILLE, OK, 8/26/13: A Collinsville man is expected to recover after being shot early Monday while chasing a person who had been burglarizing his vehicle. Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Shannon Clark said Joshua Snow was shot by a neighbor who was not involved in the burglary. Snow, Clark said, told deputies he awoke in his residence in the 11700 block of North 117th East Avenue just after midnight Sunday night and realized that someone was attempting to burglarize his vehicle. Armed with a handgun, Snow went outside in his boxer shorts and chased the burglar for “quite some distance,” Clark said. “It’s still a little unclear to us, but he said that during the chase, he came into contact with another group of people who began to give chase to him,” Clark said. “During this time he ran to a nearby home asking for help.” Clark said that homeowner, Jimmy Null, saw Snow, clad only in his underwear and armed with a handgun, at his door. Null grabbed a shotgun and “told (Snow) multiple times, “Don’t reach for your gun! Don’t reach for your gun!” Clark said. Snow had placed the gun on the ground as he knocked on the door, Clark said. “I guess in the excitement of the moment, (Snow) goes to reach for the gun, so (Null) fired one shot and struck him.” The person who was burglarizing Snow’s vehicle has not been located.
26. CHARLESTON, WV, 8/27/13: The victim in an early morning shooting has been identified as 24-year-old Ladaraean Duran Mixon of Detroit. He originally gave police an alias of Omarion Cooper. Police said he had several aliases. It took police more than eight hours to positively identify him because of this. Mixon showed to CAMC with a gunshot wound to the groin early Wednesday morning. Police later determined he accidentally shot himself. Mixon also had heroin on him at the time of the shooting, they said. He has been extradited back to Detroit on unrelated charges. More (too much) info: "Physical evidence tells us [Mixon] accidentally shot his own testicle," said Lt. Steve Cooper, chief of detectives for the Charleston Police Department. "It's not uncommon for criminals to shoot themselves in the groin area."
27. OCILLA, GA, 8/27/13: G-B-I agents spent the early morning hours investigating a deadly shooting that may have been accidental. Ocilla Police officers were called to a home on the 200 block of Dismuke Avenue around 10:30 last night where they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Several witnesses were at the home at the time. The G-B-I was called into assist but investigators right now say it doesn't appear the shooting was intentional. The victim is from Coffee County but his name has not been released.
28. NORTH FORT MYERS, FL, 8/27/13: A 16-year-old North Fort Myers boy suffered a gunshot wound to the hand yesterday, after allegedly playing with a pistol he had stolen from his grandmother. According to his arrest report, the teen initially lied and told Lee County Sheriff's deputies he had been shot in a drive-by. Soon after giving the account to deputies, the boys' stories began to change. During an interview with a detective at the hospital, the victim came clean, saying he had been playing with the firearm in the bathroom at Farmer Jack's convenience store, located on Laurel Lane, when it discharged. He said he gave the weapon to his friend to hide. The victim's grandmother had reported her pistol as stolen, and told detectives she believed her grandson may have taken it.
29. SPOKANE VALLEY, WA, 8/29/13: A 22-year-old man is in critical condition after accidentally shooting himself in the head overnight in Spokane Valley, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies responded to a shooting call at 302 S. Sullivan Road at 12:45 a.m. Thursday, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office. At least a dozen witnesses to the incident ran when law enforcement arrived. Investigators interviewed remaining witnesses, and preliminary evidence suggests a man found with a gunshot wound to the head inadvertently fired on himself. The Sheriff’s Office said alcohol played a “major factor” in the incident.
30. HANAHAN, SC, 8/29/13: A 52-year-old man told Hanahan police that he accidentally shot himself in the hand while cleaning his Glock on Thursday. The man’s right hand was wrapped in a bloody towel when police arrived at his home on Dogwood Court shortly before 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, an incident report states. He told police that he was in his gun room cleaning a 10 mm Glock when the pistol accidentally fired a round into his hand.
31. GERMANTOWN, TN, 8/29/13: A Collierville police officer accidentally discharged his service revolver while cleaning the weapon inside his Germantown apartment on Thursday.
32. DRAIN, OR, 8/29/13: A 16-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed Thursday night in Drain by his 15-year-old friend, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said. The victim, identified by classmates as Austin Lundeen, was a member of the North Douglas High School Warrior football team. "He was definitely a character and kind of kept things alive on the team," said coach JJ Mast. "So you know, it's still setting in, we're all having a pretty tough time." His best friend, also a member of the football team, accidentally shot him as he passed Lundeen a hunting rifle.
33. COLUMBUS, OH, 8/29/13: A local man was taken to the hospital after he reportedly shot himself in the leg Thursday evening. Columbus police officers responded to the intersection Aberdeen Avenue and Atwood Terrace on a report of a shooting at about 7:41 p.m. Officers made contact with the victim, 24-year-old Robert McPhail. Through further investigation it was determined that McPhail was at a friend's house and shot himself while mishandling a firearm.
34. ANCHORAGE, AK, 8/29/13: Anchorage police say two men were shot in the leg during two separate discharges of the same handgun Thursday morning in a Fairview neighborhood. Someone in an apartment complex near East 10th Avenue and Ingra Street reported at 9:13 a.m. that a man had been shot, according to dispatch logs. The first man was holding a handgun inside his apartment when the gun discharged and he was shot in the leg, police said. He dropped the gun and left, headed for the hospital. As the man left the apartment, witnesses told officers, they heard another shot from inside the apartment -- the second man had also been shot in the leg, police said. The circumstances surrounding the second shooting remain under investigation.
35. ALMA, WI, 8/30/13: A 4 year old Jackson County girl was accidentally shot and wounded by her 6 year old brother. The Sheriff's Department says it happened at 9:30 am Friday morning in the Town of Alma. The boy found a loaded shotgun in their home, it discharged when he pointed it at his sister. The girl suffered non-life threatening injuries to her head.
36. ASHBURN, VA, 8/30/13: Someone was injured while at the shooting range at Silver Eagle Group on Guilford Drive in Ashburn Friday evening, according to a gun owner who was at the facility preparing to enter the shooting range. The incident, said to have occurred around 5 p.m., has not yet been confirmed by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, and the regular LCSO public information officer is away. The person who reported the incident, who asked not to be identified, said he had been waiting in line for his turn when the incident occurred. “People started shouting, ‘Call 911! Call 911!” he said. Silver Eagle employees quickly took control of the situation and the victim, believed to be female, was thought to have suffered a non-life-threatening injury. The witness at the scene reported seeing blood, but believed the victim to be breathing.

Originally posted to David Waldman on Sun Sep 01, 2013 at 03:18 PM PDT.