Gun Fail

Mon Sep 16, 2013 at 07:35 PM PDT

GunFAIL XXXV

by David Waldman

Nine of 31 guns found by TSA agents at airports this week.

A very active week of GunFAIL this week, with an unusually high number of stray bullets and home invasion shootings. This week, nine patriotic Americans freedomed their neighbors' houses or apartments, a number not including two more who accidentally fired into their neighbors' yards, but didn't hit their houses. Three liberty projectiles were counted escaping during range or target practice. Three people were hit by other stray bullets loosed in some other fashion, including an elderly grandmother accidentally shot during a gun battle between her two grandsons. Another unusually high count this week was the four false reports given to police by gun owners who had accidentally shot themselves, but preferred to tell cops they'd been shot by mysterious strangers, in once case setting off a massive (and presumably expensive) manhunt.

On the other hand, I found just one person who accidentally shot himself while cleaning a loaded gun. There were a few others who shot themselves while disassembling guns (presumably for the purpose of cleaning them), or attempting demonstrating the "proper" way to empty ammunition from their gun. But straight up cleaning was just one this week! Four Responsible Gun Owners shot themselves with guns they had in their waistbands or pockets. One security guard and two cops were involved in accidents or incidents of misuse. One man buying or trading a gun from another was accidentally shot and killed by his new gun before he could even complete the purchase. And one man shot his wife through the legs in an attempt to prove the gun she was worried about wasn't even loaded. Well, it wasn't loaded afterwards, anyway. So he showed her!

In the recurring category of guns found in schools, this week we have five in primary and secondary schools, and one on a college campus. The weapons were turned up in Baton Rouge, LA; Independence, LA; Cleveland, OH; Wheeling, WV, and; Winston-Salem, NC, where this week's entrant was the second gun found in that city this school year. The collegiate-level entrant was discovered in Dover, DE, at Wesley College.

The child victims of GunFAIL this week were ages 2, 3, 5, 9, 10 and 11, and included the three-year-old girl killed when she found her father's gun during a camping trip in Yellowstone National Park. Guns were prohibited in National Parks until around the time that Ella Tucker of Pocatello, ID, was born. But Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) changed all that (in an amendment to a credit card finance regulation bill), and now Ella's gone.

Now, without further ado, the latest installment of GunFAIL, below the fold.

1. WEST LIBERTY, IA, 8/04/13: A stray bullet has caused a West Liberty gun range to beef up its safety measures. That's because the bullet hit a nearby home. The incident happened Aug. 4. The West Liberty Gun Club was hosting a pistol match at their ranges just to the west of town. Police think someone fired a stray 9mm bullet from one of the Gun Club’s north facing ranges. It traveled over the earthen berms, sailed about a third of a mile, and then broke through the window of a home on North Elm. “It had landed on a bookshelf near the front of the home,” said Chief of Police Lawrence McNaul. Chief McNaul said it’s one of the stranger things he’s seen, even after 22 years of law enforcement. “I’ve done a lot of competition shooting myself, in my earlier years. It’s truly an accident,” said McNaul.
2. THATCHER, AZ, 8/24/13: For the fifth time this year and the third time in less than a month, a report surfaced of a person accidentally shooting himself. [ed. note: What? No way!] Thatcher officers responded to a residence at 3096 W. Church St. at about 12:48 p.m. on Aug. 24 regarding a man who accidentally shot himself in the leg. Derek Flake, 18, said he was attempting to unload a .32-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun belonging to his girlfriend’s sister when he cocked the hammer back and it went off. The bullet entered Flake’s thigh but did not exit.
3. PHOENIX, AZ, 8/27/13: On Aug. 27 at 1:45 a.m. police responded to an accidental shooting in the 2500 block of East Granite View Drive. The victim shot himself in the thigh while attempting to clean his Glock pistol.
4. WICHITA FALLS, TX, 8/27/13: The Wichita Falls Police Department said a man who sparked a massive multi-jurisdictional manhunt turned himself in for filing a false report. Kelly Lloyd Wells, 23, reported an aggravated robbery Aug. 27, claiming a hitchhiker he picked up shot and robbed him at the intersection of Reilly Road and Wellington Lane. Wells drove himself to the United Regional emergency room where he was treated for a gunshot wound. The WFPD set up a perimeter in the area and launched an extensive manhunt for the suspect that involved the WFPD, Wichita County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety and Allred Prison. The suspect was not found and the scene was cleared after several hours. Wells admitted to police during their investigation that no robbery occurred and he accidentally shot himself.
5. NORCROSS, GA, 9/01/13: Residents in a Gwinnett County neighborhood are baffled after police accidentally fired several rounds into their homes. It happened as police were trying to stop a fleeing felon. Several rounds sailed into Sue Nguyen's home Sept. 1. She was at church. Her son was home. Nguyen told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh she's very frightened and is now having trouble sleeping at night. She showed Kavanaugh the holes in her walls and furniture that span from the living room into the kitchen. Gwinnett County police said they were aiming for Chezare Haynes, a convicted felon, with multiple outstanding warrants including possession of a firearm, hit-and-run and fleeing from police. "Nothing ever really happened like this. You know bullets flying, there's not too many places you can go," neighbor Anita Winn told Kavanaugh. "It's just crazy how they could open up fire in a residential neighborhood," Winn said. Police are still searching for Haynes.
6. HEREFORD, TX, 9/04/13: Frank Wardell Hudson, owner of Cowboy Leather Company, was found at his home by police the past Wednesday. His death is reported to be the result of an accidental gun shooting that possibly happened while cleaning a gun.
7. WEWOKA, OK, 9/04/13: A husband told investigators he had been drinking whiskey and taking medication when he pointed a revolver at his wife as a joke to scare her before he pulled the trigger and killed her. An affidavit filed in Seminole County District Court states Melvin Streater said he had two glasses of whiskey and had taken medication when he took a .38 caliber revolver outside to clean it. He shot once at a tree stump. His wife told him to put the gun down and stop shooting, he told investigators. He said he then raised the gun and pointed it at his wife. He said he “wanted to play a joke on Trevia and scare her when he pulled the trigger, striking her once in the stomach,” the affidavit states. Dana Streater, who lives on the property, said she saw her grandmother lying on the floor in the house with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Her grandfather fired two rounds at her through a window, the affidavit states. She was not hit.
8. CONYERS, GA, 9/06/13: NCSO Deputy CortneyMorrison said a homeowner on Gross Lake Parkway in the Enclave subdivision called deputies on Sept. 6 when he came home and noticed what appeared to be a bullet hole in his bedroom window. Based on where the 22-calibre round was found in the room, deputies determined the trajectory of the bullet came from a nearby home, Morrison said. No one was at that home at the time, so she said investigators continued to look into the case. They later determined that Albert Wentworth Verwayne, 21, of 3617 Cape Lane in Conyers, had fired the weapon from that home, where he had been visiting family. Morrison said Verwayne was at the home alone at the time and was playing with what he thought was an unloaded gun. He was charged with reckless conduct and criminal damage to property. “There was no malicious intent; it was just an accident,” Morrison said. “We are just thankful that no one got injured.”
9. MIAMI CO., KS, 9/06/13: A bullet that struck a man driving his family to a weekend lake getaway last Friday may have been shot accidentally according to the Miami County Sheriff’s Office. Mark Vanderweide, 33, of Olathe, Kan. was driving his family’s van southbound on Interstate 35 at Edgerton Road when he was struck in the leg by a bullet. The sheriff’s office investigation revealed that a juvenile was shooting target practice at the time of the shooting. The juvenile was on a relative’s property and used a pond dam as a back stop for target practice. The relative’s property is on Edgerton Road and I-35 runs behind the pond dam.
10. HUDSON, TX, 9/07/13: Hudson Police are investing an accidental shooting that happened Friday night. At approximately 12:30, Hudson Police and the Angelina County Sheriff's Office responded to the 4300 block of Ted Trout Drive in reference to someone having been shot. The preliminary investigation shows that Walter Estes was putting a weapon back together when the weapon was accidentally discharged, striking Nancy Carroway in the abdominal area. Hudson Police Chief Jimmy Casper says Estes was drunk when the weapon was discharged.
11. SAN BERNARDINO, CA, 9/07/13: A 22-year-old San Bernardino man’s fatal self-inflicted gunshot happened while he was carrying a revolver in his waistband with the hammer cocked, police say. Davion Titus accidentally shot himself at 6:04 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, outside his apartment at 3025 North Golden Avenue. “It must had dislodged,” Sgt. Gary Robertson said of the single-action Freedom Arms 454 Casull. “The only way that goes off is with the hammer cocked.” Titus had been sitting outside the apartment with a woman when she heard a noise, prompting Titus to retrieve the gun from his apartment and search for the source of the noise, Robertson said. Apparently satisfied that there was no threat, Titus returned to the woman and sat back down with the large-caliber revolver in his waistband, said Robertson. The couple chatted for a bit, then Titus moved to his right, accidentally causing the gun to fire, Robertson said. The victim died at the scene.
12. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WY, 9/07/13: A child died as a result of an incident at a campground in Yellowstone National Park on Saturday morning. A press release from park officials says that rangers responded to a 911 call from a woman at the Grant Village Campground, who told the emergency dispatcher that her young daughter had shot herself with a handgun. UPDATE: She was three years old. Which means she must have been born about the time that Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) shoehorned an amendment allowing firearms in national parks into the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. Thanks, Doc! I guess this one's on you. UPDATE 2: Now we know who she was. Ella Tucker of Pocatello, ID.
13. SHASTA LAKE, CA, 9/07/13: A Redding man who was demonstrating how to unload a gun accidentally shot himself in the hand at a Shasta Lake residence Saturday afternoon. Shasta County sheriff’s deputies went to the Elizabeth Avenue residence after getting a report about 3:20 p.m. of an accidental gunshot victim, Sgt. Pat Kropholler said. Michael Joel Tyree, 25, told deputies he accidentally shot himself in the left hand with a Springfield Model XD .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun while he was demonstrating unloading techniques to his friends, Kropholler said. The round entered and exited Tyree’s hand, causing a serious injury, Kropholler said. Tyree was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
14. BIRMINGHAM, AL, 9/07/13: A 5-year-old girl was accidentally shot in the shoulder area Saturday night. Birmingham police and fire responded to the call around 8 p.m. at the 1100 block of Violet Drive. She was transported to Children’s of Alabama.
15. WINDSOR, VT, 9/07/13: A Windsor man who police said shot his wife through both her legs while trying to prove to her that a gun wasn’t loaded was in court Monday facing a misdemeanor negligence charge in connection with the weekend incident. Windsor’s emergency services were called to the apartment shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday. According to a police report, they found Dorthea Coleman in her bed with a pair of through-and-through injuries to both her legs right behind her knees from a single 9mm bullet that police later found lodged in the bed frame. Coleman told authorities he and his friend Brent Baker had been hanging out and drinking beer at the residence until Baker went to sleep in the living room. Baker had brought a gun to show Coleman, the police report said, and as Coleman was going to bed, he noticed it was on a table in the living room. So Coleman then brought it into the bedroom for safekeeping because there were children in the house, Coleman told police. When his wife asked whether the gun was loaded, Coleman said it wasn’t and in order to show her he racked the slide back while pulling the trigger, according to an affidavit filed with the court. At that point the gun went off and Dorthea Coleman started screaming, according to the witness accounts.
16. LINCOLN CO., NE, 9/07/13: An 11-year-old Lincoln County boy is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the foot with a rifle on Saturday. According to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office the boy and his friends wanted to shoot birds so he retrieved a single shot .22 caliber rifle and took it to a homemade fort about a half mile from his residence north of North Platte. None of the boys involved had much experience with firearms but they managed to load the weapon. The 11-year-old mishandled the rifle and shot himself in the foot. The Sheriff's Office said all other guns in the house were locked up except the .22, and ammunition was kept in a separate place. No charges are being filed and the case is being considered an accident.
17. LAWRENCE, NJ, 9/07/13: Responding to what he thought was the sound of gunshots outside his apartment, a township man loaded his shotgun and accidentally discharged it into the floor Saturday, police said. The incident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. at the Lawrenceville Garden Apartments on Franklin Corner Road. No one was hurt, but the shotgun blast left a hole in the floor that showered sheet rock on the downstairs tenants, Lt. Mark Ubry said. Police found that the legal, registered weapon discharged by accident. "He loaded two shells, he closed it and it discharged," Ubry said. "He did not pull the trigger." The gun owner told police he heard noises that he believed were gunshots nearby, prompting him to load his weapon. Ubry said officers had been sent out to the nearby Howard Johnson's about 90 minutes before, where they found remnants of fireworks they believe were being set off through the night.
18. CHICAGO, IL, 9/07/13: Authorities have charged a 19-year-old man after determining he lied to police after shooting himself in the hand Saturday, officials said. Jalen Minor, of the 6800 block of South Champlain Avenue, faces a felony disorderly conduct charge for filing a false police report, police said. Minor initially said he had been shot when someone in a white car opened fire while he was outside on his block about 9:50 p.m. Saturday, according to police. Officers found a shell casing inside his home, however, and grew suspicious of his story. Minor, who was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, later admitted that he had fired the shot that struck his hand, police said.
19. CHARLEROI, PA, 9/07/13: A local school security guard was arrested after police said he waved his gun around in at a gas station early Saturday morning in Washington County. According to police, workers at the Exxon gas station in Charleroi called authorities and said a man was waving a gun and screaming, “I shoot to kill.” The workers said the man wasn’t threatening them, but offering to protect them. Officers responded and arrested Val Smith, a security guard at Charleroi High School. Smith was charged with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. The workers said Smith told them to write his phone number down and to “Call me. I’m only around the corner. I could be here before police.”
20. ST. LOUIS, MO, 9/08/13: A woman is in critical condition after a stray bullet hit her in the chest near Broadway and Chouteau in downtown St. Louis around midnight Sunday morning. According to police, two men were shooting at each other in the street when a stray bullet entered the victim’s car, striking her in the chest. The woman was rushed to an area hospital in critical condition.
21. PHILADELPHIA, PA, 9/08/13: A 10-year-old was rushed to the hospital Sunday afternoon after police say a gun discharged and struck him on the hand while on a playground in the area of 56th and Christian in Philadelphia. Police say the incident happened around 3 p.m. According to investigators, the 10-year-old was playing with the gun when it discharged.
22. MIAMI, FL, 9/08/13: An elderly woman was shot in the leg Sunday after an argument between her grandsons sent bullets flying. Police said the heated discussion that sent 83-year-old Marian Hall to the hospital was over a cell phone. The quarrel between brothers Kenneth Smith, Jr. and Robert Hill took place in the victim's home, located on the 22000 block of Southwest 117th Place. Investigators said the siblings' dispute continued to escalate until Smith, 23, pulled out his gun and fired multiple shots at his 28-year-old brother. Smith missed his intended target, striking Hall in the leg instead.
23. CHARLOTTE, NC, 9/08/13: Police in Charlotte are investigating an accidental shooting involving two men who were watching a football game together. Charlotte Mecklenburg Police responded to Olmstead Drive in the University area in the early evening. Police say the shooting victim didn't realize he'd been shot for a few minutes. An officer told WBTV a bullet discharged as one man was showing another man his gun. We're told the victim was shot in the hip, but is expected to be okay.
24. HARVEY, LA, 9/08/13: Officers found Rene O’Quin dead in his apartment in the 2800 block of Destrehan Avenue after receiving a call at 10:22 a.m. from a woman who identified herself as his fiancée. Investigators initially believed the victim may have sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound but later determined he was shot by someone else, Fortunato said. Antoine O’Quin, the victim’s brother, said Rene O’Quin was killed when a neighbor accidentally discharged a weapon that went through the wall and entered his apartment. Antoine O’Quin said his brother was in bed with his fiancée at the the time. “He was playing with the gun and it just went off,” O’Quin said.
25. JACKSON, MN, 9/08/13: A Jackson man is recovering this week from what appears to be an accidental gunshot wound. Ryan Polz, 32, was transported by ambulance to Sanford Jackson Medical Center in the early morning hours of Sunday after suffering a gunshot wound to the leg. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Jackson Ambulance Service were dispatched to 134 Northridge Drive in Jackson at 2:20 a.m. Sunday to a report of an accidental gunshot wound. Once on scene, they located Polz inside the garage of the residence. He advised deputies that while he was walking into the garage, he lost his balance and grabbed onto a cased .22 rifle to regain his footing. He said the rifle discharged and a round struck him in the leg. Deputies located a cased .22 rifle with a hole in the end of the case, consistent with what Polz had reported.
26. NILAND, CA, 9/08/13: Pioneers Memorial Hospital reported a patient with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The man came in with a gunshot wound to his chin and claimed to have accidentally shot himself Sunday afternoon in Niland. According to the Imperial County Sheriff logs, the man also has an injury to his right leg.
27. ALBANY, OR, 9/08/13: Leg wound — 5:45 p.m. Sunday, 2400 block of Eighth Avenue S.E. Michael Brittain, 35, said he accidentally shot himself in the leg with a .40-caliber pistol. Police arrived and noted that Brittain was bleeding “profusely.” Brittain was listed in fair condition Monday at the hospital in Corvallis.
28. SPRINGFIELD, OH, 9/08/13: A 56-year-old Springfield man shot himself in the leg by accident Sunday morning. According to a Springfield police report, the man had a handgun in his front pants pocket and, when he went to retrieve some keys that were in the same pocket, the keys snagged the trigger and the gun went off.
29. CLAYTON, CA, 9/08/13: Cal Fire confirmed Thursday afternoon that investigators have determined target shooting to be the cause of the Morgan Fire that consumed over 3,000 acres in the area around Mount Diablo. The Morgan Fire was reported in the area of Morgan Territory Road near the community of Clayton on Sunday just after 1 p.m. The fire has burned 3,133 acres and at its height forced the evacuation of over 100 homes. The fire started off of Morgan Territory Road near Mount Diablo State Park, southeast of Clayton, on Sunday afternoon. Since that time, more than 1,370 fire personnel from more than a dozen agencies responded to the blaze. Thursday, some 1,160 firefighters were responding to the fire.
30. OATMAN, AZ, 9/08/13: According to Trish Carter, spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, George Henry Coons, 46, was taken into custody around 3:30 p.m. after a victim told deputies investigating the incident that he was outside his residence an hour earlier with his 16-year-old son when he heard a gunshot and the bullet hitting the bushes in the driveway. “The victim advised deputies that he heard an additional 50 shots and that the bullets hit his block wall located in the front of his house,” Carter said. “At that time, the victim said he got on his all-terrain vehicle and proceeded in the direction of where he heard several other shots. The victim determined the shots were allegedly coming from Coons, who apologized to the victim and told him he was trying to hit the rooftop of a house near the victim’s residence.” Deputies observed many indentation marks on the block wall and made contact with Coons regarding the incident at a nearby residence on Pyramid Road. Coons told investigators that he and a friend were shooting at the backside of a mountain.
31. LEXINGTON, KY, 9/09/13: Police say a man claimed somebody shot him while walking down the street, but they think he accidentally shot himself. Officials say the victim was brought to the emergency room at UK Hospital around 3 a.m., and staff notified police. Despite his claim somebody shot him, police say evidence leads them to believe he shot himself with a gun he was carrying in his pants. Officials say the injury wasn't serious.
32. IRRIGON, OR, 9/09/13: Deputies say a Northeast Oregon man accidentally shot himself in the leg during an argument outside his home Monday night. The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office reports that 67-year-old Venancio Carrillo was chambering a round in his handgun when it discharged outside his Irrigon home. Carrillo had gone outside to investigate what appeared to be a dispute between another resident of his home and a man in a vehicle parked outside.
33. AURORA, IL, 9/09/13: Neighbors said they were “scared to death” Monday afternoon when they heard five shots ring out on their Aurora street. Police found Ricardo Reyes standing outside an Indian Avenue home. He told police he had come outside to investigate the noise, but wasn’t sure where it came from. One neighbor had a good idea where the shots were fired. He told police that he had seen Reyes firing a gun in his yard about two weeks earlier. Other witnesses corroborated that story, saying they believed the shots had come from Reyes’ home. Officers found several .45 caliber, semi-automatic pistol cartridges on Reyes property. Police reports show that Reyes admitted that he had fired the pistol, which was recovered from his home. He told police that the gun belonged to his father, and that he had intended on cleaning the weapon, but wanted to fire off the remaining rounds first. This was not the first time he has done this, he said.
34. FARGO, ND, 9/09/13: A close call for a Fargo woman Monday morning, after a gun was accidentally fired into her home. Police say a man was cleaning his .22 caliber gun at a house located at 1445 17th Street South. The house is split into two apartments, a garden and upper level. A man in one apartment was cleaning the gun when it accidentally discharged and sent a bullet through the wall and into the neighboring apartment, just missing the woman inside. UPDATE: The man had a concealed carry permit, which usually requires safety training, [Lt. Joel] Vettel said, but he could not comment on whether the man’s training had covered safe clearing techniques.
35. KIPNUK, AK, 9/09/13: An adult male was sent to the Bethel hospital for an accidental gunshot wound. Alaska State Troopers say the man is from Kipnuk but they have not released his name. On Monday, at 9:25 p.m., Alaska State Troopers in Bethel were notified that an adult male was in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had apparently shot himself in the foot while out on a hunting trip.
36. WIMAUMA, FL, 9/09/13: A felon prohibited from owning a gun accidentally shot himself Monday morning, deputies say. Mark Cruz, 26, was shot once in the leg when his .22-caliber gun fell out of his pocket and fired after hitting the ground, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Interviewed at the hospital, he was uncooperative with deputies and refused to say where he got rid of the gun. He would only say that he tossed it in a lake, deputies say.
37. MUSKEGON, MI, 9/09/13: A 17-year-old Muskegon man could face charges for filing a false police report after allegedly shooting himself in the hand, police said. The incident was reported on Monday, Sept. 9. Police were told a 17-year-old man was shot in the hand in the 1600 block of Dyson Street. When police arrived to the scene, the alleged victim said he didn’t know who shot him but that someone in a vehicle that fled west on Dale Avenue from Dyson was responsible, authorities said. The man later admitted he was playing with a handgun in the backyard when it accidentally discharged. He was treated at a local hospital.
38. MANNING, SC, 9/09/13: The shooting of a two year old boy by a three year old is being called an accident. According to an incident report provided by the Clarendon County Sheriff's Department, on Monday, deputies responded to a home on Paradise Road near Manning. A three-year-old boy and a two-year-old boy were staying at their aunt's house. The three-year-old climbed into the family's gun cabinet reached a pistol. The aunt was outside when she heard a gunshot. She and her husband ran into the house and found the two-year-old lying on the floor. The three-year-old had shot the two-year-old through the legs, said Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett.
39. PENSACOLA, FL, 9/10/13: The Escambia County Sheriff's Office is investigating a mysterious shooting that happened early Tuesday morning in the Mayfair area. Just after midnight, a man was shot while sitting on a couch at the Sunrise Apartments on Fairfield Drive. The 24 year-old victim told deputies he has no idea who shot him. And investigators say he isn't saying much more than that. The victim says he was sitting on a couch in a ground floor apartment when he was hit.
40. LANCASTER, SC, 9/10/13: A Lancaster man died after a gun he was bartering with a friend accidentally discharged Tuesday night. Robert Hood, 35, met with a friend near Brooklyn Avenue so they could either trade or sell a gun, said Lancaster County Sheriff's Office Maj. Matt Shaw. As one man handed the gun to the other, the pistol went off, firing a bullet at Hood and eventually killing him, Shaw said. The shooting was accidental, he said, adding that the men were not angry with each other or arguing.
41. MALMO, NE, 9/11/13: Charges are pending against a Wahoo area man who turned himself into authorities Thursday morning after an incident Wednesday night in which he was originally accused of shooting at another man. Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz said Andrew Stuchlik, 34, was released, but will probably face charges of shooting from the roadway and leaving the scene of an accident. Stukenholtz said Stuchlik told authorities he had been shooting at cans in a ditch in the Malmo area. Some of the stray bullets went into the backyard of a resident, who happened to be in the backyard at the time and believed someone was shooting at him. "I don't believe he had any intention of shooting toward somebody's home," Stukenholtz said.
42. REIDSVILLE, FL, 9/11/13: A 57-year-old Palm Coast man is accused of shooting his neighbor while playing a hypothetical “what would you do” game, authorities said Thursday. Edward Neveony Towers was charged with discharging a firearm in public and culpable negligence about 6 p.m. Wednesday after deputies responded to the Reidsville Drive home of Jamie Goodell, 44, who suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Skeans told deputies that he and Towers were at Goodell’s house drinking and “began talking of what you would do scenarios” when Towers showed them a weapon, a Diamondback Arms 9 mm. “While it was aimed at Goodell, the weapon went off,” a detective reported. A second round discharged, according to the report, when Towers “was asking Skeans to look at the gun,” according to the report. Towers, who has a concealed weapons permit, was arrested and booked into the Flagler County Inmate Facility.
43. BLOOMING PRAIRIE, MN, 9/11/13: One man was airlifted away from a gun range near Blooming Prairie on Wednesday evening after accidently shooting himself in the leg. According to Steele County Sheriff Lon Thiele — who was speaking from Aurora, Colo., due to his attending a convention for sheriffs — the unidentified man was taking a training course through the National Rifle Association on a firearms course on Highway 30 west of Blooming Prairie. Thiele said when the man went to draw his weapon from his holster during one of the exercises, the gun went off and a bullet struck him in the femoral area of the leg. The man was airlifted to a Mayo Clinic facility in Rochester.
44. DETROIT, MI, 9/11/13: A bullet hole in the ceiling was evidence of an odd crime that police say happened at 6:13 p.m. Wednesday when a group of friends inexplicably had a loaded gun sitting between them on a dining room table. The gun allegedly went off when one member of the group brushed it with his leg, putting a hole in the ceiling and causing the neighbor to call police to the the 3500 block of Karen Parkway, in the Cass Lake Shore Club apartment complex. The apartment was empty, but cops said they saw a revolver sitting on the dining room table with six bullets sitting next to it. Of the six, one of the bullets had been fired. “Officers saw a bullet hole in the ceiling that lined up directly under the couch of the callers apartment above,” the report summary says. While cops were checking out the scene, the apartment’s resident,  a 24-year-old Waterford man, had driven himself to the Police Department to speak with officers about the incident. He told officers he had the revolver out sitting on the table with the hammer cocked and then this happened. “The suspect told officers he got up from the table to use the bathroom and brushed the revolver with his leg knocking it to the floor and causing it to fire,” police said in their summary. Why was the gun on the table? “The suspect could not provide any explanation for why he had the gun sitting on the table, loaded and the hammer cocked,” police wrote.
45. DAYTON, OH, 9/12/13: A bullet fired into a house Thursday night missed a teenager who happened to be lounging on an air mattress. The girl was hit in the face by plaster and other material when the slug traveled through the wall of a home in the 400 block of Shoop Avenue, Dayton police Lt. Donald Burden said. "We're not sure why or who or how," he said of the shot fired. "It very easily could have been an accidental" discharge of a weapon, he said.
46. TAMPA, FL, 9/13/13: Tampa police are investigating the accidental shooting of a 9-year-old boy. The boy was hanging out with his 14-year-old cousin in the area of Oregon Avenue and Chestnut Street around 6:15 p.m. Friday. The 14-year-old apparently had a gun, according to Tampa police. The gun went off and the 9-year-old was shot in the arm. He was rushed to the hospital and is expected to be ok. The 14-year-old ran off but police have identified him and are interviewing the families of both the 9 and 14-year-old trying to figure out how the teen got the gun. Police said it appears to be an accidental shooting.
47. EDMUND, OK, 9/13/13: Today at the Edmond Police Department firing range there was an accidental discharge of a gun. The accident resulted in a minor injury to one of the officers. The officer was treated and released from Integris Hospital with a “burn” wound on the leg. At the time of the incident there were eight officers and two instructors conducting firearms training. There was another accidental shooting at this facility January of this year.
48. ROCKWELL, NC, 9/13/13: A Rockwell man was accidentally shot in the groin this morning while looking at a neighbor’s gun on Family Circle. The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident, which occurred shortly before 10 a.m. Family Circle is located not far from St. Peter’s Church Road. The man’s name was not immediately available, but his friend and neighbor Ray Stoner told a Post reporter he was showing the gun to his friend when it went off. He said it was an old, handmade gun. Authorities earlier identified it as a 410 shotgun loaded with birdshot. Stoner, who lives in the 1300 block of Family Circle, said he inherited the gun when his father passed away. His friend wanted to see how the gun came apart. Stoner said he didn’t think he had the gun cocked, but he apparently did, shooting his friend in the groin. Stoner was sitting in a recliner in his living room and his friend was standing a few inches away from him.
49. SPARTANBURG, SC, 9/13/13: A Spartanburg Public Safety officer has been charged after an incident where shots were fired early Friday evening. The former officer, Alvin Anderson, 25, was charged with discharging a weapon into a dwelling while he was off-duty, according to the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office. Anderson was not in uniform but did use his police issued service weapon. A spokesman for Spartanburg Public Safety said Anderson was fired after they learned about the incident. They said Anderson went to the home looking for his girlfriend. He used a cell phone tracker to find her at Mark James' home, according to deputies. A deputy report says Anderson was pounding on James' door and yelling his name early Friday morning. The report said a shot was then fired through the front door of the victim's house, hitting the living room wall. Anderson was released on a $20,000 bond Friday evening. He declined to comment on the incident, but Master Deputy Kevin Bobo with the sheriff's office said Anderson confessed to the incident. Anderson told deputies as he was pounding on the door to the home with his service weapon in hand, it accidentally went off.
50. OAKLAND, CA, 9/13/13: Gunshots were fired Friday afternoon outside of the Oakland hotel that Ohio State is staying ahead of today's game against Cal. According to ABC 7, the shots rang out at about 3 p.m. PT, outside the Marrriott Hotel at Broadway and 11th. Two men were engaged in a gun fight and a cab driver was struck by a stray bullet while he was standing at the hotel's taxi stand. Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch was on the scene and said he heard at least eight shots, while another witness said he heard between three and five.

Originally posted to David Waldman on Mon Sep 16, 2013 at 07:35 PM PDT.