Thursday, December 26, 2013

Gun Fail

Five of the 38 guns discovered by TSA agents at airports across the country last week.
Five of the 38 guns discovered by TSA agents at airports across the country last week.
Another typical week. Unless you're one of the people who got shot, of course. Statistics-wise, this compilation records five cops as accidentally discharging their weapons, three neat freaks discharging guns they couldn't wait to clean, three generous patriots who shared Freedom Ingots with their neighbors (plus two more who kept it in-house, so to speak), two hunters who became the hunted, and two target shooters who became the targets.
Stories of note this week include two out of Florida, which of course is not at all unusual. One is the story from which our title is derived. In Vero Beach, where a health club owner was accidentally shot by someone showing off his .40-cal Glock to someone interested in buying a gun of his own. He accidentally fired, and put a bullet through the wall, into the owner's office, and... into the owner. How'd you like to be shot at your own fitness center? The big question, though, is what did the guy interested in buying a gun think? Well, because it's Florida, I give even odds that he said, "Awesome! I can't wait to get one of those!" But the kicker, of course, is that the club owner won't be pressing charges, since the gun owner was a friend, and "an otherwise responsible gun owner."
Our second Floridian tale comes from Royal Palm Beach, where an 18-year-old kid who apparently thinks his state's "Make My Day" law is hilarious, decided to try to prank his uncle by jiggling the patio door handle to draw his uncle outside to investigate, and then jump out from a hiding spot to scare him. Well, here we are in GunFAIL, so guess what happened?
Also worth noting: an accidental shooting while an employee was cleaning a gun, during the grand opening of the new, "upscale" Frisco Gun Club in Frisco, TX, and; Philadelphia's second accidental shooting in their SEPTA transit system in the space of a month.
I found six kids accidentally shot last week. Two three-year-olds, a five-year-old, a nine-year-old, a teen of unknown age, and one 17-year-old.
In the guns in school category, we missed one in the last roundup, on December 11th, inBreckenridge Hills, MO. And during the last week, even more turned up, in St. Joseph, MO,Longmont, CO, Florissant, MO, Indianapolis, IN, Round Rock, TX, Oak Ridge, TN,Dorchester, MA, and Chicago, IL.
  1. AUSTIN, TX, 11/18/13: An Austin police officer was given a one-day suspension for accidentally discharging his shotgun. According to a disciplinary memo from APD chief Art Acevedo, police officer Vincent Giles was suspended from duty on Dec. 14 after he "accidentally discharged his shotgun while inspecting the weapon before beginning his tour of duty" on Nov. 18. The disciplinary memo said that this violated APD's general firearm guidelines and safe handling of firearm guidelines.
  2. ROYAL PALM BEACH, FL, 11/26/13: A deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office substation in Royal Palm Beach was dispatched to a home on Sparrow Drive last Tuesday night regarding a shooting. According to a PBSO report, the 18-year-old victim is a nephew of the shooter. He decided at approximately 11:15 p.m. to scare his uncle by jiggling the patio door handle. According to the report, the shooter heard the sound and retrieved his rifle before going to investigate the noise. When the victim saw his uncle come out onto the patio, he jumped out to scare him. According to the report, his uncle was startled and discharged the rifle, shooting the victim in his left thigh just above his knee. The victim was transported to Palms West Hospital where he was treated for his injuries. There was no further information available at the time of the report.
  3. ELMWOOD PARK, IL, 12/07/13: While cleaning his pistol in his living room of his residence on 7900 block of Belmont Avenue at 3:46 a.m. Dec. 7, the gun discharged, firing a shot through the front window. The owner of gun reported to police that he thought the gun was empty when he began cleaning it. No one was injured.
  4. DANIELSVILLE, GA, 12/09/13: On Dec. 9, a deputy was dispatched to a home on Young Harris Road, where a man said he was cleaning his 9mm pistol, but didn’t realize there was a bullet in the gun. The gun fired and the bullet hit the man’s index finger. The man was transported by ambulance to Athens Regional Medical Center.
  5. GROVE CITY, OH, 12/12/13: A Grove City teenager last week accidentally shot his sister in the leg with their mother's gun, Grove City police reported. According to reports, a 17-year-old male resident of the family home in the 2700 block of Walden Bluff Court was playing around with the handgun about 5:30 p.m. Dec. 12, in a bedroom with his sister, girlfriend and another friend. He believed it was unloaded when he pulled the trigger, but the gun discharged and the bullet hit his sister in the right upper thigh. The group then drove to Mount Carmel West Hospital, where the sister was treated, and police were contacted. The 17-year-old initially told police the gun had gone off when he set a box down on the night stand, but he later admitted he had pulled the trigger. He told police he had assumed the gun was unloaded and he had not intentionally shot her.
  6. VERO BEACH, FL, 12/13/13: The owner of a fitness center is recovering from a gunshot wound to his legs, he said. The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and Indian River County Fire Rescue went to Longevity Max Fitness, 970 14th Lane, Vero Beach, about 4:30 p.m. Dec. 13 for the incident that was considered an accidental shooting. The center’s owner, Steve Pfiester, 43, was in his office when the .40-caliber Glock, held by its owner in a next-door locker room, fired and went through the wall, according to a sheriff’s incident report. The bullet went through Pfiester’s right leg and grazed his left leg, Sheriff’s Office officials said. Pfiester described the shooting as a freak accident. He told authorities he did not want the case prosecuted and he considered his friend to be an otherwise responsible gun owner. The gun owner told deputies he was showing the weapon to someone who was interested in buying one.
  7. GREENEVILLE, TN, 12/13/13: A 13-year-old suffered a minor leg wound Friday after his father's gun accidentally discharged inside a house at 330 Tom White Hollow Road. Sheriff's deputies responded to Laughlin Memorial Hospital on a report of a gunshot victim and found Michael L. James "with a bullet wound to the back of his right leg," Deputy Toby Price said in a report. The boy's father, Landon James, told deputies that he had just shot an opossum "and laid his .22-caliber revolver pistol on the table to pick up the opossum," the report said.
  8. FRISCO, TX, 12/14/13: There was an accidental shooting Saturday night at the new Frisco Gun Club. An employee was cleaning a gun for a patron when it discharged, wounding the employee in the hand. That person was taken to a hospital for treatment. This is the grand opening weekend for the Frisco Gun Club on El Dorado Parkway just east of the Dallas North Tollway. It calls itself the nation's largest indoor shooting range, and includes luxury features for members.
  9. DENTON, TX, 12/14/13: A man was transported to Denton Regional Medical Center after a .22-caliber Magnum handgun discharged in his jacket pocket and he sustained an injury to his leg early Saturday morning. The incident occurred in the 1100 block of Audra Lane. The man told police that he had the gun in his jacket pocket and when he put his hand in his pocket, the gun fired. When officers arrived, they found that the man had wrapped his jacket around his leg and tightened it with a belt to act as a bandage. Police reported that the man was alert and talking and said that the shot was accidental.
  10. MELCHER-DALLAS, IA, 12/14/13: State officials say a Cedar Rapids man shot himself in the kneecap while hunting in central Iowa. The Department of Natural Resources says 37-year-old Charles T. Nolte was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines on Saturday with non-life-threatening injuries. Officials say Nolte's shotgun discharged while he was putting on his gloves before 1 p.m. Saturday. He was hunting in an area southwest of Melcher-Dallas, in Marion County.
  11. FREDERICKSBURG, VA, 12/14/13: Fredericksburg police were investigating a Saturday night incident in which at least one shot was fired into a city residence. No one was injured, though two children were in a room where a bullet was found, city police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said. The shooting occurred at 8:40 p.m. in the 200 block of Harris Street in the Mayfield subdivision, Bledsoe said. A witness reported hearing about five shots, but as of about an hour after the shooting police had only found one. That shot had gone through a window and an interior wall before coming to rest in the room with the children. In addition to the children, whose ages were not available, at least one adult woman was in the home. The initial 911 call came from the residence, Bledsoe said.
  12. THE DALLES, OR, 12/14/13: A woman called city police at 2:45 a.m. Saturday to report that someone had entered her home in the 3300 block of West Seventh Street, shot a gun into her son’s room and ran out the back door. She said her son was unhurt and nothing was missing from the house. A The Dalles police officer arrived and noted in the police log that “it was clear the [son] was not being honest.” The son then admitted he was actually cleaning a gun and it went off. He told police he then stashed the gun and lied to his mother about a person entering the house. Officers seized the gun and were forwarding their report to the district attorney’s office for review.
  13. CROSSVILLE, TN, 12/14/13: A Crossville man was accidently shot in the foot when looking at a rifle being held by a coworker, according to Cumberland County Sheriff's Department reports. Both men reportedly were drinking at the time of the incident, the report states. The incident took place Saturday around 8 p.m. in a wooded area off the end of Interstate Dr., according to Cpl. Tim Tutor's report. Tutor responded to the report of a shooting and was met by Mark Pryor, 42, of Sylvester Davis Dr., who told him that he and James A. Taylor, 50, Wilson Rd., were watchmen for equipment on a logging job. Taylor said he was showing a .22 rifle to Pryor when the gun accidentally discharged, striking Pryor in the foot.
  14. RICHMOND, CA, 12/14/13: The family of a Richmond teen struck by stray bullet over the weekend said on Monday that she was paralyzed from her injuries. Richmond Police told KTVU that 19-year-old Dominique Romero was sitting on the couch inside her home on Waller Avenue Saturday night when someone fired multiple shots in the street. One of the bullets punched through the wall of the house, slammed through the teen's arm and wedged in her spine. The girl's mother said doctors at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek told the teen and her family on Monday that she is paralyzed from the waist down. Richmond police said they have yet to track down the person who fired as many as nine shots that night.
  15. GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ, 12/15/13: An off-duty police officer was wounded after an accidental shooting at a home in Camden County, New Jersey. It happened shortly before 3:00 a.m. Sunday at a home along Bromley Drive in Gloucester Township. Police say an off-duty Gloucester Township Police officer was unloading a personally owned pistol, when the gun accidentally discharged. The officer suffered a minor wound to the hand. No one else was injured.
  16. COLUMBIA, TN, 12/15/13: A Maury County man was killed after a stray bullet struck him inside of his apartment. Officials with the Columbia Police Department said 19-year-old James Tyler Wisdom was fatally struck by a stray bullet just before 1 a.m. Sunday morning. They said he was found deceased in the kitchen of his apartment, located at 2228 Union Place in Columbia. Police said the victim's roommate, 24-year-old Ryan Frederick, was handling a pistol in an upstairs bedroom when the gun accidentally discharged. They said the bullet traveled through the floor and fatally struck the victim.
  17. DEKALB CO., GA, 12/15/13: A five year old girl is recovering after a bullet hit her in the shoulder as she stood in an apartment watching a gun fight outside. It happened Sunday night at the Highland Apartments on Flat Shoals Road. Police say the little girl was standing at a window watching two people shooting at each other in the parking lot when one of their bullets pierced her window and hit her. When investigators arrived they say the suspects had taken off. Officers spent several hours collecting evidence including multiple shell casings in the parking lot  and talking to neighbors.
  18. SHREVEPORT, LA, 12/15/13: One Shreveport man is in jail and his friend is in the hospital after a shooting early Sunday morning that injured both of them. Shreveport police say it happened just after 3 a.m. Police were called to Willis Knighton North after the men showed up in the emergency room with gunshot wounds. Both 19-year-old Gary McCain and Darien Adams, age unavailable, were treated for injuries that are described by police as non-life-threatening. Upon further investigation, police say they believe the shooting appears to have stemmed from a physical dispute involving McCain and Adams "a group of offenders known to both men." While it's not yet clear who shot Adams or whether there was an exchange of gunfire between the two men and the other group, police say their preliminary information suggests that Adams was accidentally shot in the hip by McCain.
  19. CAMBRIDGE, MD, 12/15/13: A Cambridge man accidentally shot himself in the shoulder here Sunday evening, Dec. 15. The 20-year-old man, whose name was not released by Cambridge police, was transported to an area hospital, police said, where he was treated for his injury and later released. Cambridge police responded to a 911 call at 7:49 p.m. Sunday about a person being shot in the 400-block of Muir Street. Police said they learned the gun went off accidentally while the man was handling it and that a single round had been discharged into the man’s shoulder.
  20. HARMONY TOWNSHIP, PA, 12/15/13: A teenager told state police that it was an accident when he hit a Tionesta man's vehicle with a round of rifle fire on Sunday along Fogel Farm Road, in Harmony Township. State police in Marienville report that the 16-year-old boy shot the rear window and entered the passenger compartment of David Rankin's vehicle as he was traveling along Fogel Farm Road. Rankin was not injured. According to police, the boy reported that the gun discharged accidentally.
  21. ST. PAUL, MN, 12/16/13: A 14-year-old boy is recovering from a bullet wound after what appears to be an accidental shooting in St. Paul Monday night. St. Paul Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Paulos says the victim was shot in the stomach by his 15-year-old friend around 7 p.m. on the 800 block of West Nebraska Avenue in St. Paul. The teen was rushed to the hospital, where no word on his condition is available.
  22. PLAISTOW, NH, 12/16/13: A Haverhill man was arrested Monday after accidentally shooting his girlfriend in the leg. Police responded to 3 Dauntless Lane at around 9:15 p.m. Monday night after a report of a gunshot wound. When police responded, they found Joshua Thompson, 22, of Haverhill and a 19-year-old Plaistow woman with a gunshot wound to her leg. “We believe it was an accidental discharge,” Deputy police Chief Kathleen Jones said. “He dropped it and it went off.”
  23. FAIRMONT, NC, 12/16/13: Negotiations between two men over the purchase of a firearm Monday turned deadly when the gun discharged during a struggle, fatally wounding a Fairmont man, authorities said. The shooting happened about 7:35 p.m. near Stephens Avenue and the 400 block of North Main Street, said Chief Danny Parker of the Fairmont Department of Public Safety. Travis Brown, 33, of 21 Sweetheart Drive, was shot in the abdomen and died while undergoing surgery at Southeastern Regional Medical Center, Parker said. Reginald Barney, 25, of Newport News, Va., was arrested Wednesday night and charged with second-degree murder, Parker said. Brown and Barney did not know each other, Parker said. During the transaction, the men began fighting, Parker said, and the gun discharged, striking Brown in the abdomen.
  24. BRIDGEPORT, CT, 12/17/13: A Bridgeport police officer was taken to the hospital suffering from a single gunshot wound this morning. The incident happened at the Bagel King, on Main St. The officer, who has not yet been identified, was taken to the hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. Police said the incident is being investigated as an accidental discharge at this time. Witnesses tell News 8's Stephanie Simoni the officer shot himself by accident in the leg. UPDATE: The incident took place around 9 a.m. while several patrons were enjoying breakfast. Based on interviews, Hearst Connecticut Newspapers was able to piece together the following scenario. A second officer, who the department has not yet identified, was returning the .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol that he had borrowed from a friend when Santiago picked the gun off the table they were sitting at. "It was on the table and he picked it up and cocked it," said the gun owner, a doctor who asked not to be identified. "It wasn't loaded but there was a magazine in it and when he cocked it a bullet moved into the chamber. He pointed it at the floor and he pulled the trigger." The bullet ricocheted upwards piercing Santiago's leg before shattering a nearby window.
  25. INDIANAPOLIS, IN, 12/17/13: Indianapolis Metropolitan Police say an 18-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the head at a home on the city's west side late Tuesday. Investigators say they think the man may have been drinking when the gun went off inside a home on Centennial Avenue. The scene is near West 16th Street and North Tibbs Avenue. Police say the man was awake and talking when officers arrived.
  26. IVESDALE, IL, 12/17/13: Douglas County authorities believe a rural Ivesdale man killed himself inside his home in the northwest corner of the county late Tuesday afternoon after accidentally shooting his wife in the hand. Douglas County Chief Deputy Peter Buckley identified the man as Terry Rexroad, 45, who lived at 95 E on County Road 1550 N, the road between Champaign and Douglas counties, about 4 miles south of Ivesdale. Mr. Rexroad's estranged wife, Theresa Rexroad, 41, called for help about 3:30 p.m. after having been shot in the hand in a struggle in the house. Buckley said Theresa Rexroad, who was living in Atwood, stopped by the house to drop something off earlier in the day. Once she was there, Buckley said, Mr. Rexroad began talking about harming himself. "She said 'I'm going to call 911' and takes out a cellphone. There is a struggle for the phone and he's holding a gun in his hand and inadvertently shot her in the hand," Buckley said.
  27. CINCINNATI, OH, 12/17/13: Police have arrested the mother of a 3-year-old girl for falsification and the mother’s boyfriend for accidently shooting the child Thursday. Cincinnati Police District 4 Capt. Mike Neville confirmed to WCPO the mother of L’eah Johnson, Ebony McDavis, falsified the story of taking out the garbage at 2:20 a.m. Tuesday at the Colonial Village apartment complex on Tacoma Avenue in Avondale. McDavis’ boyfriend, Cordero Warren, 24, was arrested for tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm under disability, a third-degree felony. Police allege McDavis, 28, misled investigators as she told police Warren was carrying Johnson when he was taking out the garbage and the child was struck by gunfire. Several 911 calls were placed at the time of the accidental shooting, reporting gunfire in the area but “they were not related to the child’s injury,” police said in a prepared statement. McDavis eventually admitted to making up the story during subsequent interviews with police. “It was an accident and she created an entire convoluted story for that reason,” Neville told WCPO. Johnson was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for surgery and she is expected to recover.
  28. LANCASTER, PA, 12/17/13: Police say a Lancaster city woman pulled a gun as she argued with her husband Tuesday morning and it fired as the couple fought for control of it. A bullet struck one of the man's fingers. Police charged 51-year-old Lisa Helen Nogueras with aggravated assault after the 7:45 a.m. confrontation at the home in the 500 block of Burrowes Avenue, city police Lt. Todd Umstead said. The couple were arguing and fighting when Nogueras pulled the semiautomatic handgun, Umstead said. Her husband tried to grab it from her and the gun discharged. The 48-year-old man sustained a gunshot wound to his left pinkie finger and was taken to Lancaster General Hospital for treatment.
  29. BRADENTON, FL, 12/17/13:  A Florida man shot himself in the foot this week. Investigators didn’t buy the man’s story that he had been shot while walking on Manatee Avenue, Bradenton.com reported. “Deputies attempted to find the crime scene but were unsuccessful,” according to the report. “ The victim’s account does not match the evidence.” The man, who was not identified, was treated Tuesday night ay Blake Medical Center for a gunshot wound to the foot. The police report indicated it may have been self-inflicted.
  30. MAHASKA CO., IA, 12/18/13: Rescue workers responded to a call of an injured individual at the Hull Shooting Range  located 4 miles west of Oskaloosa Wednesday afternoon. Paramedics and Mahaska County Deputies responded after being informed about the injury by another user of the range. The yet unidentified victim was transported by Mahaska Health Partnership Emergency Services to the hospital where they were then transported via Mercy One air ambulance. According to Mahaska County Sheriff Paul DeGeest, the victim was by himself and authorities are unsure how long the victim had been injured before being discovered. UPDATE: He didn't make it. 73-year-old Dan Karow of Oskaloosa appeared to be unloading a revolver when it went off, striking him in the stomach. Another resident who had come to the range to shoot discovered the injured Karow lying on the ground.
  31. PHILADELPHIA, PA, 12/18/13: An unidentified man reportedly shot himself in the hand on a SEPTA bus Wednesday evening in the city's East Germantown section, police said. The incident happened about 6:15 p.m. on a Route K bus at Chelten Avenue and Musgrave Street, said Chief Inspector Scott Small. The bus driver did not know that something had occurred until he completed his route. A passenger leaving the bus told the driver that a man accidentally shot himself and then got off at a stop. Police found some drops of blood on the bus and were expected to check surveillance video to see if they could get a clear image of the man, Small said.
  32. PORTSMOUTH, NH, 12/18/13: Police were called to a White Cedar Boulevard residence on Wednesday by a man who said he accidentally fired a shotgun inside his home. Police Sgt. David Keaveny said the resident reported the accidental discharge at 5:55 p.m. and that no one was hurt. Responding officers found a wall damaged by the shotgun discharge at the home which is in a condominium development known as The Cedars, he said. Keaveny said it’s unknown why the resident pulled the trigger, but he told police he’d been duck hunting and forgot to unload a cartridge from the long gun after the hunting trip. According to the police sergeant, the man notified police about the incident, explained what happened and was not impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time. “It appears accidental,” Keaveny said, adding that police will continue to investigate and make a determination about whether or not to charge the hunter with a crime.
  33. BRONX, NY, 12/18/13: A 9-year-old boy was shot in the foot in the Crotona Park East section of the Bronx. Witnesses say the street was covered with kids heading home from school. That's just what the 9-year-old boy was doing. Right now he's recovering at Jacobi Hospital, his injuries are not life threatening.  Witnesses say two men were arguing outside a bodega at East 175th Street and Prospect Avenue, one had a gun. Detectives believe during the dispute the armed man accidentally fired a shot, hitting the child's left foot. "He told me he was shot. He said, 'I'm shot, I'm shot,'" the victim's cousin said. "Did he say anything else?" Eyewitness News asked. "He was very afraid for his life. He told me, 'This is the first time I've ever got shot.'
  34. NEW ORLEANS, LA, 12/18/13: New Orleans authorities say a gun discharged as a police officer struggled with a teenage suspect he had been chasing, wounding the suspect in the groin and the police officer in the ankle. Police say it happened around 11 p.m. Wednesday in eastern New Orleans. Police had received calls about loitering and suspicious activity in the area. When patrol officers approached two people loitering near a store, one suspect ran away but tripped and fell. When an officer caught up to him, a struggle began. Police say the suspect had a gun, which discharged during the struggle. Police said the 17-year-old suspect was hospitalized in stable condition.
  35. PALM BEACH CO., FL, 12/19/13: A man was injured this afternoon after he accidentally shot himself while on Florida’s Turnpike in northern Palm Beach County. Florida Highway Patrol and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue crews were called around 4:50 p.m. to the turnpike’s southbound lanes at the Indiantown Road exit in response to the shooting. A man accidentally shot himself in the leg. His injuries do not appear to be life-threatening, said FHP spokesman Sgt. Mark Wysocky. Wysocky did not immediately know if the man was driving at the time.
  36. NAIRN, LA, 12/19/13: An 18-year-old man hog hunting with two close friends accidentally shot them when he mistook them for the hogs he sought, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Lonnie Greco said. The shots from the shotgun of Willie Evans struck and killed 18-year-old Galen Scott and injured 17-year-old Cody Jones. The incident occurred Thursday around 5:45 p.m. in Nairn, just south of Port Sulphur. According to Greco, deputies received a call of two people shot in Nairn and those who arrived on the scene found Scott suffering from wounds to the head and leg, he was pronounced dead on the scene. Jones was shot in the legs and was taken to the hospital where he underwent surgery. He is expected to make a full recovery. Greco said that based on interviews with Evans, Jones and other witnesses, it appears that the three friends went hog hunting in a wooded area and that prior to the trip, they had smoked marijuana. After the sun had set, Greco said that Scott and Jones began walking towards Evans and that he observed two objects about 75 feet away and, thinking they were the hogs they sought, he fired back-to-back rounds of buckshot from his gun, striking both young men.
  37. RAPID CITY, SD, 12/19/13: A witness heard a gunshot when a suspected robber slipped on the ice outside Toby's Casino at 720 East North St. at 9:20 p.m. Thursday. The armed man reportedly fled the casino after threatening a female clerk with a handgun and making off with an undisclosed amount of cash, according to police. The 52-year-old clerk was not injured. According to the witness, the gun fired when the suspect fell on the icy, snow-covered parking lot outside the casino.
  38. SAHUARITA, AZ, 12/20/13: A 3-year-old boy has died after accidentally shooting himself with his parent's gun. Officer Philip Steele with Sahuarita Police tells KGUN9 that officers responded to a call in the 300 block of Calle Minerva, around 7:45 p.m on Friday. When officers arrived on scene, the boy was found with a self-inflicted gunshot would to the face.  The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, said Steele. The parents told officers the firearm was misplaced for a short time, during which the child found and fatally discharged the weapon.
  39. BRADENTON, FL, 12/20/13: A man was hospitalized Friday night after he was shot by a person who was showing off a handgun, according to Bradenton police. Authorities received "numerous 911 calls" about an armed subject in front of a residence in the 2200 block of 15th Avenue East around 11:09 p.m., according to a police report. Arriving officers found the male victim inside with a single gunshot wound to the middle torso area. Investigators say the suspect was showing the handgun off to the victim when it went off.
  40. AMES, IA, 12/20/13: Police say one person is dead following what has been described as an accidental shooting in Ames. Officers were called to a house on the west side of Ames around 10:30 p.m. Friday and found Devlin Lockman, 38, with a gunshot wound to his head. Lockman lived at the house. The injured person was taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center, where he died. "At this point, it appears that this was a tragic accident," said Ames Police Cmdr. Geoff Huff in a news release. MORE: Witnesses say 38-year-old Devlin Lockman accidentally shot himself in the head with a semi-automatic 9mm handgun.
  41. LOWER GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP, PA, 12/20/13: A Lower Gwynedd police officer accidentally fired his gun while officers responded to a disturbance in which a man pointed his gun at officers during the early morning hours of Dec. 20. The incident began when Lower Gwynedd police were dispatched to a report of a reckless driver traveling north on Bethlehem Pike, according to a press release from the Lower Gwynedd Police Department. Lower Gwynedd police located the vehicle, which was unoccupied, parked in the driveway of a home currently under construction on the 600 block of Montgomery Road and were joined at the scene by officers from Upper Dublin, according to the complaint. As officers searched the outside of the house, they observed a person lying on the floor of a front room, police said. When police identified themselves, Bridges stood up, got a “dark colored revolver” from a closet and pointed it at an officer, according to police. As the officer was retreating for cover, he slipped on ice and fell, unintentionally firing his gun, police said. The one round discharged from the weapon struck the house.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO DAVID WALDMAN ON TUE DEC 24, 2013 AT 07:02 PM PST.

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