Walden's GunFail

The new national pastime: GunFAIL CCXLIV

By David Waldman  

Friday Jul 14, 2017 · 1:26 PM EDT

2017/07/14 · 13:26

Thirteen of the 61 guns discovered in carry-on bags by TSA agents at airports across the country, during the week of May 1-7, 2017.

Eighteen people accidentally shot themselves during the week of April 30-May 6. And 16 kids were accidentally shot. And of course, there was the usual range of other kinds of accidents: hunting accidents, target shooting accidents, the mistaking of friends and family members for intruders, accidental discharges while cleaning a still-loaded gun, etc. But if there’s anything that stood out about this week, it was perhaps the number of accidents (or “accidents”) that arose from activity that everyone involved really should have known was wrong and/or stupid from the beginning.

Okay, well, that really describes almost all of the reports I compile in these posts. But here’s what I mean: In Alabama, a 12-year-old girl was accidentally shot and killed while play wrestling with a family member who apparently never gave a moment’s thought to whether it was safe or appropriate to continue wearing a gun during this activity. In Ohio, a guy who had hitherto no doubt been a Responsible Gun Owner^TM mysteriously found himself drunk and asleep atop a loaded gun, which he subsequently dropped, tried to catch, and then accidentally fired through his television and into a neighboring apartment. I don’t know how much of that I believe, but it’s all stupid, regardless.

In Maine, we had a man who accidentally shot another during an argument. I usually don’t include incidents like this because it’s too hard to draw the line on where the “accident” starts when guns are brandished in anger. But this report provided an illustrative (though far from unique) example, since the shooter claims he was “trying to shoot the floor.” Now, I think even firearms experts will agree that shooting a floor is probably something almost anyone can do successfully, even without any training whatsoever. That’s not the point. What was likely going on here, though, was a gun owner who thought he was skilled enough to get away with a “warning shot” as a way of “settling” the argument he was engaged in. It’s a good reminder that a lot of “warning shots” go awry, and not just because people frequently overestimate their skills (or consider the gun they’re carrying to have magically imbued them with skills they never really had) when they attempt them. In most such cases, the gun carrier really has no business displaying the weapon in the first place. “Warning shots” are often something seen in movies or television that look cool on the screen, but almost always are a bad idea in real life. Here, I’d guess we’re looking at a guy who thought he could scare someone by adding an element of real danger and shooting near someone else’s feet. Yes, he was “trying to shoot the floor.” But he chose that part of the floor almost directly beneath someone else. And now he’s in GunFAIL.

In California, a cop accidentally shot himself during a gun training exercise during which no live ammunition was necessary, because no shooting was involved. But he had his gun loaded, anyway. Why? Because dumb things happen wherever there are people. And when there are loaded guns there too (and remember, for safety purposes, all guns are loaded guns), some of the stupid things that happen will end up with people getting shot. By the way, where was the range master in this situation? No weapons inspection before the exercise? Why not? Most likely answer: because we “know what we’re doing.” Ah. You knew what you were doing. But did you actually do it? No. You did not. And now you’re in GunFAIL.

Our title story, out of St. Louis, doesn’t involve exactly the same kind of pattern, but is worthy of mention nonetheless. It serves as a reminder of just how many guns there really are out there, and how many bullets are really flying. A 34-year-old woman attending a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game (against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers) was shot in the arm by a stray bullet fired from outside the stadium! We’ve seen guns accidentally fired in sports venues before, but never above the AAA minor league level. GunFAIL and gun violence can find you anywhere, I guess. But we knew that.

You’ll find the rest of the week’s “accidents” below:

1. JACKSONVILLE, FL, 4/30/17: The 12-year-old girl who was shot in the head during a sleepover in Jacksonville over the weekend is in critical condition, UF Health reports. Police say Ramya Eunice was shot in the head by an 11-year-old boy in the Lackawanna area of Jacksonville on Sunday. According to police, the girl was at a sleepover in the 100 block of Willow Branch Avenue. The homeowner told First Coast News that the 12-year-old girl was one of eight children that were over for her daughter's birthday. The victim was sleeping on the couch when she was hit by a bullet that went through the couch and the living room wall, the homeowner said. The gun was shot by an 11-year-old boy, the nephew of the homeowner, who suffers from a mental illness. She says he found the gun at a vacant home nearby. The homeowner says the 11-year-old boy is under a 72-hour mental evaluation and that this was all an accident.
2. LEEDS, AL, 4/30/17: A young girl was shot to death during a family gathering in Leeds Sunday night. The Jefferson County Coroner's Office on Monday identified the victim as Kayla Mendenhall. She was 12. The shooting happened at 8:16 PM at a home in the 4100 block of Oak Trail Way. Authorities said Kayla and an adult family member were playing around and wrestling. The adult family member, whose name and relationship hasn't yet been released - was wearing a gun and that gun discharged. Kayla was struck in the upper leg. She was taken to Children's of Alabama, where she was pronounced dead at 9:26 PM. Leeds Police Chief Ron Reaves said the investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed at this time. Kayla was in the 6th grade at Leeds Middle School. Superintendent John Moore said she was a wonderful student who played trombone in the school band. "She had never been in trouble day of her life in school,'' Moore said. "She was a wonderful student, always had a smile. She was just clearly a ray of sunshine." Moore said he visited the middle school Monday morning where students had just learned of their classmate's death. "This is a tragedy that no teacher, no school wants to face,'' Moore said. All of the counselors in the school district responded to the middle school. Students are being allowed to talk with the counselors, call their parents and talk with friends. "She had so many friends,'' Moore said. "The kids are just heartbroken. They're so heartbroken." "As far as we know, it was accidental but that doesn't change the outcome,'' he said. "The kids just miss their friend." Kayla was a "very sweet spirit" who had lots of friend and was full of life and energy, said vice-principal Wesley Graham. "She was the kind of girl you want your kid to grow up to be." Graham said the child's mother came to the school today to retrieve Kayla's things. "That's where it hit home for us." A GoFundMe account has been established to help the family with her funeral costs. Leeds businesses have called the school asking to donate food to the family, Graham said. "Today was a very somber day," Graham said. "It just shows how hopeful I feel about our community."
3. RICHMOND, VA, 4/30/17: A five-year-old boy was shot and killed in Henrico on Sunday. A few weeks earlier, on Easter weekend, a seven-year-old girl was shot by a five-year-old in Mosby Court. In both cases, no charges have been brought yet. "I’ll never forget him,” said Porche Smithers tearfully. “I still hear his voice in my head over and over and over." Five-year-old Jakhi Coleman meant the world to his mom. The little boy who loved his brothers and sisters was tragically shot to death after Crime Insider sources say another child was playing with a gun. "It's no one’s business who shot him,” said Smithers. “It's so sad that the world looks for this kind of entertainment. If I forgive him, that's all that matters. Police got a confession. That's it. Crime Insider sources tell Jon Burkett that the gun was in a laundry bag belonging to Jakhi’s uncle who was trying to help his sister out by babysitting. "I just want this all to be over,” Smithers said Tuesday. “I want to be able to put my son in the ground and not hear people say so many negative things. I want people to know that my brother is not responsible for my son’s death." Little Jakhi isn't the first area child to be shot accidentally. Easter weekend as a “Love for Mosby” event was going on outside, inside an apartment on Coalter Street, Crime Insider sources say that a young boy found a gun inside an Easter basket and a shot went off, striking the seven-year-old girl. Her injuries were not considered non-life-threatening. And non-life-threatening is something Jahki's mom had hoped to hear, but now she’s left gathering memories of her smiling, happy young son. "He was the sweetest boy ever,” said Smithers. Crime Insider sources say both of these investigations are not complete and they believe the Commonwealth could bring charges soon. If you would like to help the family pay for funeral costs, a GoFundMe page has been set up for Jahki and his loved ones.
4. CHICAGO, IL, 4/30/17: Five people were wounded in shootings Saturday night and early Sunday morning, according to police. The most recent shooting happened in the Chinatown neighborhood on the South Side. The man, 27, said he was on a sidewalk in the 2400 block of South Canal Street about 3:35 AM when someone shot him. He was driven to Rush University Medical Center and then transferred to Stroger Hospital in stable condition, police said. He had been shot in the left arm. Police later updated information on that shooting and said the gunshot wound was self-inflicted as the man tried to secure a gun inside a vehicle.
5. MANKATO, MN, 4/30/17: A 52-year-old man was hospitalized Sunday after accidentally shooting himself. The injuries to Matthew Drummer of Nicollet were not life threatening. The Mankato Department of Public Safety says officers were called to a home in the 200 block of West 8th Street just before 2:00 Sunday afternoon. According to police, Drummer told them he and his adult nephew were looking at the .380 with a magazine in it, when it accidentally discharged and the bullet went into his left leg. Drummer bandaged the leg himself and was waiting outside for the first responders when they arrived. Drummer was taken by ambulance to the MCHS Hospital in Mankato.
6. MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP, MI, 5/01/17: Police have identified the victim of a fatal, possibly accidental, shooting Monday night as a 15-year-old Muskegon High School student. Davion Hewlett was the victim of the shooting, said Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat. The shooting was reported at 6:55 PM in the parking lot of Northway Bowling Center, 1751 Evanston Ave., Muskegon Township Police Chief Dave Wypa said earlier. The victim, who managed to get out of the car before collapsing, was pronounced dead at a local hospital, he said. Officials are investigating the incident as "an accidental shooting," Maat said. Two other subjects who were in the car at the time of the shooting fled, and were apprehended close by, Wypa said. One of the subjects was taken into custody following a standoff with police in the 1700 block of Southland Drive, a couple blocks north of the bowling alley, he said. The two subjects, who have not been identified, remain lodged in the Muskegon County Jail, Maat said. They will stay there at least until the prosecutor's office decides on any charges, which will occur in the next 24 hours, he said. Hewlett was at the bowling center just prior to the shooting to participate in a driver's training class in a conference room there, according to a statement from the Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office. After the shooting, officers chased an armed subject into the Southland neighborhood near Shonat Street, the statement says. The subject then pointed a gun at himself for about an hour, threatening to kill himself, according to the statement. Negotiators successfully convinced him to put down the weapon and he was taken into custody. The second subject is in custody "on review of other possible unrelated charge(s)," the prosecutor's statement says. Muskegon High School has counselors in place to provide assistance to students grieving Hewlett's death, Maat said.
7. NEWPORT NEWS, VA, 5/01/17: Police responded to a shooting in the 1300 block of Roanoke Ave., Monday night. Police dispatchers got a call about the shooting around 7:30 PM. Police said the victim is a teenager and suffered non-life threatening injuries to the leg. After an initial investigation police said they believe the teen was playing with the gun when it went off. When police arrived they found the victim.
8. AUSTINTOWN, OH, 5/01/17: 4:44 AM – 4100 block of New Rd., Patrick Fleischer, Jr., 36, charged with using weapons while intoxicated. Police said Fleischer called police after accidentally shooting his firearm through the television and wall and into the neighbor’s residence. Fleischer told police that he had been drinking earlier in the evening and had fallen asleep on top of a loaded gun. He said he woke up and picked the gun up to take it upstairs when he almost dropped it, squeezing it to prevent it from falling, a police report said. Police said Fleischer appeared to be mildly intoxicated and had admitted to drinking four beers earlier. No one was injured.
9. MARSHALL TOWNSHIP, PA, 5/01/17: A man was shot in the abdomen in what police said was a turkey hunting accident Monday morning in Marshall Township, Allegheny County. Investigators said two men were hunting turkeys on Mingo Road at about 6 AM when one of them was shot. The victim was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Northern Regional police spent hours investigating at the scene. Officers were seen bringing evidence out of the woods, including a tree stand and a decoy. A van in the driveway was put on a flatbed and towed away. While police said the shooting is believed to be an accident, they also said it remained under investigation. The spring turkey season started on Saturday.
10. BOOTHBAY, ME, 5/01/17: A 66-year-old Boothbay man was charged with reckless conduct with a firearm Monday evening after allegedly shooting a neighbor in the leg following a dispute. Thomas Proctor Jr. told deputies that he shot 46-year-old Jeff Hayward, another resident of an apartment building on Hamilton Gardens Road, in the leg following an argument, Lt. Michael Murphy of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday in a release. Hayward was taken by a friend to Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta, and transferred from there to Maine Medical Center in Portland for treatment of his injury, which Murphy said is not considered life-threatening. Proctor told police he shot Hayward with a .45-caliber pistol by accident during an argument, when he was trying to shoot the floor. Murphy declined to comment on the nature of the argument. Deputies seized two firearms at the scene. Proctor was charged with Class C felony reckless conduct with a firearm and taken to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset, where he remains on $5,000 cash bail pending a court appearance Wednesday.
11. FALMOUTH, ME, 5/02/17: A 23-year-old man was shot at his home in Falmouth Tuesday afternoon after his handgun accidentally fired, police said. Officers responded to a home on Poplar Ridge Road at 12:17 PM. Poplar Ridge Road is off of Blackstrap Road. The victim suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest, police said. "He was working on his firearm and it was an unintentional discharge, at this point, but we have to talk to him and find out exactly the mechanics that happened that made this weapon go off," said Falmouth Police Lt. John Kilbride. He was transported by a family member to the West Cumberland Fire Department, where he was then transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
12. BRIDGEPORT, CT, 5/02/17: A large crowd gathered in the Main Street courthouse Tuesday morning in a fatal shooting case that turned two families from friends to bitter enemies. But unlike a previous court hearing that saw the families clash in the courtroom, this time while there were plenty of exchanges of angry glances across the courtroom, a bevy of judicial marshals kept the groups separate. In the meantime, Terrell “Big Baby” Evans calmly stood before Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin and pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter, carrying a pistol without a permit and criminal possession of a firearm. He then chose a jury trial. Devlin continued the case to July 19. Outside the courtroom, Evans’ lawyer, Carolyn Comerford, declined comment as she spoke to her client’s family. Evans, 22, of Marigold Street, is accused of accidentally shooting his friend, 22-year-old Kyree Kennedy, of Success Avenue, in the head while the two were in the midst of doing a drive by shooting on May 2. Kennedy was found slumped over in the driver’s seat of his car shortly before midnight on Read Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said witnesses told them Evans had gone for a ride with Kennedy to Read Street to shoot up a car that belonged to a person Kennedy had an ongoing feud with. As they approached the target car, police said Evans began firing from the front passenger seat across Kennedy and out the driver’s side window. But at one point Kennedy turned his head and one of Evans’ shots struck him instead, police said. During a subsequent interview, police said Evans told Lt. Christopher LaMaine that he had nothing to do with the shooting and was asleep in his grandmother’s house at the time. However, police said the grandmother later told them she had not seen Evans that night. Evans is being held in lieu of $250,000 bond.
13. MOUNT OLIVER, PA, 5/02/17: A 28-year-old woman was shot Tuesday in Mount Oliver, Allegheny County officials said. Mount Oliver police and paramedics responded to the scene about 6:42 PM in the 100 block of Frederick Street. The woman was taken to a hospital with a single gunshot wound and was listed in good condition, officials said. Detectives from the Allegheny County Police homicide unit determined that another person in the house had accidentally shot the woman. Officials said those involved in the shooting are cooperating with the investigation. No charges have been filed in the shooting. The investigation is ongoing.
14. ST. LOUIS, MO, 5/02/17: Police are investigating after a woman attending a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game at Busch Stadium was struck by a stray bullet. Police say the 34-year-old victim was inside the ballpark Tuesday during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers when she felt pain in her arm. She went to a first-aid station for treatment. A bullet was later found near her seat. Police believe the bullet came from outside the stadium. The Cardinals said in a statement Wednesday that the organization is grateful no one was seriously injured. The statement says nothing is more important than the safety of fans.
15. WEST MONROE, LA, 5/02/17: Ouachita Parish deputies have arrested a West Monroe woman after she accidently shot a man during an altercation. Joyce Johnson, 57, of West Monroe was arrested early Tuesday morning around 2:16 AM. On May 2, 2017, deputies reported to 310 Forest Hill Dr., West Monroe in reference to a gunshot victim. Deputies arrived on scene and spoke with the victim who said he had been in a verbal altercation with the Joyce Johnson when she pulled a metal object from her right pocket. The victim stated Johnson had the metal object pointed toward the ground when two shots were fired from the object. He said he immediately felt pain in his stomach area and saw what he thought to be a gunshot wound. The victim said he believed he was hit by a ricochet. Deputies observed the red bloody area on the victim’s stomach and had him transported to the hospital for his injury. Deputies spoke with a witness who said they heard the altercation. The witness said he heard the victim tell the arrestee “you brought that gun because you’re a coward”. The witness said he then heard what he believed to be two consecutive gunshots. Deputies spoke with Johnson who said she did not shoot at the victim. Johnson said she threw rocks and one homemade “firecracker” at him. Deputies were able to locate a revolver in a shed on Johnson’s property which contained two mismatched rounds in the cylinder. Johnson was booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and negligent injuring. Her bond has not been set as of 10:30 AM Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
16. GLASGOW, KY, 5/02/17: A man was taken to the hospital Tuesday after an accident with a firearm. Glasgow Police Department, Glasgow Fire Department and Barren County EMS responded to a home on Jefferson Street for a shots fired report. When they arrived, they found that Albert Schindler had accidentally fired a weapon inside his home which resulted in a gunshot wound to his leg. Schindler was taken to a hospital for treatment.
17. CHICAGO, IL, 5/02/17: So what exactly happened Tuesday night when gunmen—one of them using what is believed to have been an assault rifle—shot two Chicago Police tactical officers in Back of the Yards? Sneed is told the two officers—one of them the son of a deputy police chief—likely were mistaken as Almighty Saints gang members and targeted by rival La Raza gang members before being ambushed. “The injured tactical officers were gunned down approximately three hours after another gang-related shooting [that] they had been investigating occurred,” said a police source familiar with the matter. Here’s the tick-tock of what happened, according to the source: Around 6:30 PM Tuesday, three young men in a black Nissan “called 911 to report one of them had been shot. . . . The tactical officers noted the men in the black Nissan were wearing La Raza gang tattoos.” Several officers responded to the scene and were told the three in the Nissan had been “driving on South Halsted at 18th Street when two male Hispanics in black hoodies ran up to them and one of them starts shooting at them inside the car.” The shooters hit the Nissan “multiple times. . . . The people in the car then sped off and drove from there to Archer and Halsted, where they called 911.” A Chicago Fire Department ambulance rushed the shooting victim—a teenager—to Stroger Hospital as officers began interviewing the other two people who were in the Nissan. During the investigation, the cops recovered bullets as evidence. As the investigation unfolded, the cops got word that the bullet removed from the shooting victim was of a different make than the bullets recovered from the Nissan. The wound also appeared to be “self-inflicted,” leading police to believe that the injured man tried to return fire and had mistakenly shot himself. There was no weapon recovered from the Nissan, though—leading police to believe the three men had ditched it somewhere before calling them. So police hatched a plan: After letting the La Raza gang members go, the two tactical officers would “follow them in an unmarked, covert car to see where they may have ditched the gun.” That didn’t end up happening. The Nissan went to a residence, and police decided to call off the surveillance. “It was following that surveillance—when the officers were heading back to the their police district after not being led to the gun—that a Chrysler minivan going at a high rate of speed pulled up behind them and the shooting began with what appeared to be assault weapons.” Police are now working under the theory that the La Raza gang members thought members of the rival Almighty Saints gang were tailing them—and notified fellow gang members. To support that theory, “At 9 PM, while police units were blocking off cross streets to enable help to get to the wounded officers at the scene near 43rd and Ashland, they [the wounded officers] spotted the black Nissan car and its occupants.” Three “persons of interest” were being questioned, and the shooting remains under investigation. “It certainly is a possibility that the officers had been mistaken as members of a rival gang,” Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told Sneed on Friday. “But is it also possible officers were targeted because they were officers? We won’t know yet until we interview the suspected shooter. We have put protective details on their [the officers’] homes.” The officers have been dubbed the “miracle” cops because their bulletproof vests protected them from the hail of gunfire. They were released from the hospital on Wednesday, one day after being shot. Stay tuned.
18. GREEN BAY, WI, 5/02/17: One man is in jail after an accidental shooting in Green Bay. Police say around 1:30 PM Tuesday afternoon, a 23-year-old woman entered Bellin ER with a gunshot wound to the back. The woman told police she was in the area of Plymouth and Fisk when someone shot her, but had no idea who, what or how it happened. After an investigation, officers determined she was lying and was shot by someone she knew who was in the backseat of her car while she was driving. Police say he accidentally shot her while playing with the gun. Officers located a vehicle they believed was involved on West Walnut St within the hour of the victim walking into the hospital. Justin Hutcherson, 17, was arrested and charged with first degree reckless injury and possession of dangerous weapon by a person under 18. He is expected in court Wednesday afternoon.
19. LAS CRUCES, NM, 5/02/17: Las Cruces Police say the shooting that injured a 20-year-old man at Young Park Tuesday evening appears to be accidental. LCPD was dispatched to Young Park around 10:30 PM Tuesday night where they found the 20-year-old victim had been shot in the back while sitting inside of a car at the park. Investigators learned that there were three people inside the car when the 19-year-old backseat passenger was holding a .22 caliber rifle when it accidentally fired, hitting the victim in the back. The backseat passenger called 911 and cooperated with the investigation. The victim was initially transported to a local Las Cruces hospital and later transferred to UMC in El Paso for treatment. He is currently listed in stable condition. According to police, the front passenger, a 16-year-old girl, initially ran from the scene of the shooting but later returned and talked with police. LCPD does not expect any charges in the case.
20. SAN BERNARDINO, CA, 5/02/17: A sheriff’s deputy was hospitalized Tuesday after he accidentally shot himself during a weekly SWAT training exercise in Devore. Shortly after 10 AM, the 28-year-old deputy, a member of the SWAT team since 2012, was training with his team at the Frank Bland Regional Training Center on the Long Distance Rifle Range. Officials said the team was conducting ‘Open-Air Movement’ training when the mishap took place, but the training did not involve shooting of any kind. When the deputy re-holstered his sidearm, a negligent discharge took place striking him in the lower extremities, spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said. He was airlifted to an area hospital where he’s listed in stable condition. “Tactical medics, who are part of the team, were on scene and treated the deputy before he was transported to the hospital,” Bachman said Tuesday afternoon. The team trains to prepare for active shooters and barricaded subjects, Bachman said. “They deal with, usually, the worst criminals,” she said. The center has five 50-yard ranges, a trap and skeet range, a 300-yard rifle range and a building where SWAT teams can train. The center also has an Emergency Vehicle Operations Center with a city grid, high-speed maneuvers track and skid pan to simulate icy weather conditions.
21. LAKE WORTH, FL, 5/02/17: A kid shot himself in the leg in Lake Worth and was taken by TraumaHawk to the hospital, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. It happened just before 9 AM near Holiday Drive and Lake Worth Road near the railroad tracks. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the juvenile ran toward a nearby mobile home park where he was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
22. GOODRIDGE, MN, 5/03/17: Officers believe the death of a Goodridge man who died from a gunshot wound was accidental. The Pennington County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of Gerald Johnsrud, 60, after he was found by his family Wednesday at a rural home, according to a report for KTRF Radio. Sheriff Ray Kuznia confirmed the death, telling the Herald that Johnsrud died of an "accidental gunshot wound to the head." An autopsy is being performed. The final report could take several weeks to be released.
23. AWENDAW, SC, 5/03/17: An 82-year-old man is recovering after the gun he was cleaning accidentally went off, striking him. According to the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened [on] the 1200 block of 15 Mile Landing Drive at 7:28 AM. We’re told a man placed his gun down after cleaning it and turned off the lights. That’s when the gun went off, hitting him in the leg. He told investigators that he didn’t call for help because he was having trouble with this phone. Medics took him to the hospital with minor injuries.
24. IOWA CITY, IA, 5/03/17: A felon is facing a weapons charge after a boy accidentally shot himself in the leg with the man's gun earlier this month. Police were called to Mercy Hospital around 7:45 PM May 3 for a juvenile with a gunshot wound to the leg, according to Iowa City police complaints. A police investigation discovered that the boy had located a handgun belonging to Edmund D. Green hidden in a shed in the boy's Iowa City home, where Green was staying, the complaints state. The boy was playing with the gun when it discharged, hitting him in the leg, police said. Green admitted to owning the handgun, according to the complaints. He has a 1998 felony conviction for armed robbery out of Illinois and is prohibited from owning firearms, police said. Police also recovered a semi-automatic handgun at the scene, which Green said also belonged to him, according to the complaints. Green has been charged with control of a firearm or offensive weapon by a felon, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
25. SMYRNA, NY, 5/04/17: Two teens were pointing rifles at each other when one of the guns went off Thursday, according to the Chenango County Sheriff's Office. A 17-year-old was shot in the shoulder by a 16-year-old. Authorities say the 17-year-old was taken to Community Memorial Hospital and released with minor injuries. Now both teens from Smyrna face charges of reckless endangerment in the accidental shooting. Sheriff's officials say both teens were released to their parents and will appear in Village of Smyrna Court at a later date.
26. BRISTOL, IN, 5/04/17: A Bristol man told Elkhart County police Thursday morning he accidentally shot himself in the hand. According to a police, Elwood Gustafson, 75, 19026 C.R. 16, made the report around 8 AM. Gustafson stated the accident happened at his home with a 9 mm handgun. The case is being investigated.
27. PENSACOLA, FL, 5/04/17: One minor has been hospitalized after being shot in Escambia County Thursday afternoon. Preliminary investigation shows that juveniles were playing with a gun and it went off, striking one of them, according to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. The incident happened on Wickford Lane near Durham Drive around 1:45 PM. Authorities say the minor's injury is not life threatening.
28. HURST, TX, 5/04/17: Police are investigating what appears to be an accidental shooting that injured two 19-year-olds on Thursday. Hospital medical staff called police about 10:30 PM to report that a 19-year-old man was seeking medical help for a gunshot wound to his hip area, police said. A second 19-year-old arrived at the same hospital a short time later with what appeared to be a superficial gunshot wound to his leg, according to a news release from the Hurst Police Department. A preliminary investigation revealed that the two men were friends and were apparently playing with a handgun while “hanging out” in a backyard shed at a residence in the 400 block of Michael Boulevard. One of the men was treated for his superficial wound and the other underwent surgery on Friday and is listed in critical but stable condition, according to police. No charges have been filed. The names of the teens are being withheld due to the pending investigation, police said.
29. DECATUR, GA, 5/04/17: Two men are in custody after a gun discharges during a police chase in DeKalb County early Thursday morning. Police tell CBS46 News officers patrolling near the A2B Budget Hotel on Ember Drive near I-20 at around 2:30 AM when they saw two men who looked suspicious. The men took off running, police said. During the foot chase, one of the men dropped a weapon, causing it to discharge. Both suspects were apprehended soon afterward. No injuries were sustained during the incident which remains under investigation.
30. AUGUSTA, GA, 5/05/17: The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an accidental shooting on Friday night. Deputies were called to the parking lot of Eagle Majic Food store, at 2601 Deans Bridge Road, where a man was found to have accidentally shot himself in the foot with an AK-47. The business was closed at the time of the shooting. The investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made in the incident.
31. AUGUSTA, GA, 5/05/17: The Richmond County Sheriff’s office is investigating an accidental shooting. Deputies were called out to the 3700 block of Beacon Hill Drive around 8 AM Friday morning. They found a 46-year-old woman who had been shot when they got there. No word on her condition, and we are waiting on more details on the circumstances of the shooting.
32. SAN ANGELO, TX, 5/05/17: San Angelo Police says the victim of an apparent accidental shooting on Upton Street was in surgery on Friday afternoon. Police also say the owner of the gun is an adult who is a resident of the household where the shooting took place. They have not said whether another citation or charge will be issued and that the investigation is ongoing. Police did say the Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon charge to the teen who fired the weapon is because the teen was acting "recklessly" with the firearm when it was discharged. For details about the incident, read the story below: Detectives with the San Angelo Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division are investigating an apparent accidental shooting of a teenage boy on Upton Street Thursday evening. Just before 7:00 PM, San Angelo Police were dispatched to a residence in the 800 block of Upton Street for the report of a shooting. Upon arrival, Officers located a 15-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Officers administered first aid to the victim until Fire Department Medics arrived. The victim was then transported by ambulance to Shannon Medical Center for treatment of life-threatening injuries. Subsequent to the field investigation, Police learned the victim and two 15-year-old male friends were at the residence playing with a firearm when it discharged and struck the victim. No one else was injured. The juvenile who shot the victim was transported to Police Headquarters for questioning. Following the interview, the juvenile was transported to the Tom Green County Juvenile Detention Center where he was charged with Aggravated Assault with Deadly Weapon. This is an ongoing investigation and no other information is available for release at this time. Detective James Hernandez is the lead Investigator for this case.
33. CLARKSVILLE, TN, 5/05/17: Police in Clarksville say a man and a 3-year-old girl were hit in an accidental shooting on Friday afternoon. Police responded to the shooting call in the 200 block of Caldwell Lane just after 3 PM. Investigators say an apparent accidental discharge resulted in the child and the 27-year-old man being hit. The little girl was hit in her left thigh and the man was hit near his ankle. Police are still investigating how the gun was discharged. The child was flown by helicopter to the hospital and is in stable condition. The man was taken by ambulance to the hospital and is also in stable condition.
34. CLEVELAND, TN, 5/05/17: A ten year old boy accidentally shoots himself in Bradley County, and according to an incident report he used his parent's gun. Family says the boy is ok and now out of the hospital. Tuesday, NewsChannel 9 pieced together what happened through a police report and emergency radio traffic. We learned the boy's mother tried to take him to the hospital herself. She only got about three miles down the road before calling EMS. Her son was transferred into an ambulance near the intersection of APD 40 and Benton Pike. According to a police report, the 10-year-old was in his bedroom when he accidentally shot himself in the arm. His parents told officers that he was talking to his friend on the computer when they heard a gunshot. His parents also told police they didn't know he had gotten a hold of the gun they'd "put up in a safe place." The police report doesn't specify if it was locked up. Warren Duncan owns a gun shop. He showed NewsChannel 9 the best way to secure a gun. He says ultimately, no place is safe for a loaded gun unless it's locked. "The kids are watching all the time," Duncan said. "If we are hiding something, we are probably really not hiding it." Beth Joslin Roth works with an organization pushing for harsher penalties on adults who leave a loaded gun in a place where a child can get a hold of it. "What we have seen is that most often there are no charges brought against the adult gun owner, and it becomes sort of this ambiguous area where the district attorney has to decide whether or not they want to file charges," Roth said. After the shooting, the police report says officers got the Department of Children's Services involved, but no charges have been filed. NewsChannel 9 called the DA's office to ask if they were considering filing charges in the case. We have not heard back. Family did not want to talk with us about what happened the night of the shooting. They say their child is doing well though and they are thankful the situation did not turn out worse.
35. WICHITA, KS, 5/05/17: A man accidentally shot himself in the hand while at an east Wichita shooting range Friday afternoon, police said. The mishap was reported shortly after 4 PM at Range 54, in the 5700 block of East Kellogg, a Sedgwick County emergency dispatch supervisor said. Ken Grommet, one of the owners of Range 54, said the man who was injured comes to the range regularly to shoot. He was practicing switching the handgun from his dominant hand to his weak hand and firing when the accident occurred. The bullet went through his hand between the fourth and fifth metacarpal bones, Grommet said. The victim, a man in his early 20s, was taken to a hospital for treatment.
36. HOUMA, LA, 5/05/17: An 8-year-old boy suffered non-life-threatening injuries Friday after getting shot while playing with one of his parents’ guns, authorities said. According to the Terrebonne Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred about 5 PM at the 3600 block of Thomas Drive. Several children were playing near some apartments when one of them opened the trunk of his parents’ unlocked car and saw two rifles being stored there. One of the children began playing with an AK-47 rifle and accidently fired the weapon while it was still in the truck [sic] of the car, which struck him in the leg, authorities said. The boy was transported to University Medical Center in New Orleans, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators ruled the shooting as accidental.
37. BATON ROUGE, LA, 5/05/17: The last time that Anita Barthelemy saw her 13-year-old son was Friday night after he had just cleaned his room. He told her he loved her and said he was going to play with some of his friends. Minutes later, Barthelemy heard ambulances and sheriff's vehicles rushing into the Mallard Apartments, a gated complex in the 11000 block of Greenwell Springs Road. Her son, Zion Barthelemy, had been shot in the head around 7 PM and died later in a hospital. The next day, two of his friends would  be arrested in what the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said was an accidental shooting. Anita Barthelemy and her family gathered in her apartment Saturday morning, hugging each other and remembering Zion. "I don't know what went wrong or what happened," Barthelemy said. "He's not a trouble kid here. He's never in trouble. Everybody around here knows him. … I don't understand it." The two boys who were arrested late Saturday, one 12 and the other 13, were friends of the victim and the shooting was an accident, Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said. The 13-year-old was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Detention Center on negligent homicide and the 12-year-old was booked on possession of a firearm. Anita Barthelemy said the boys arrested were two of her son's best friends. She said their parents were too distraught and upset to talk with her. "It's just a tragedy all around," Barthelemy said. Zion was getting ready to graduate from the fifth grade at Greenbrier Elementary School. His mom said that he often hung out in the apartment complex with his friends, swimming in the pool or playing football. They had lived there for six years. Across the apartment complex, a 12-year-old boy who was close friends with Zion stood at the foot of the staircase Saturday in the breezeway where Zion had been shot. The boy stood under a bullet mark in the wall and said he came there because he was thinking about his friend. "He never really did anything to nobody," said the boy, who declined to give his name. "He used to always make people happy when they were sad. He was just a great mood changer. He never was the type of person to play with a gun. I never thought this would happen to him." Zion's friend described him as being generous, a description that others who knew him were quick to echo. Eric Hill, who sat with Zion's friend on the steps, said he used to give Zion snacks in exchange for his help doing yard work at his apartment, which was close to where the teen was shot. Hill said Zion would always share those snacks with his friends, even though he had worked for them. Aside from Hill and the little boy, the apartment complex was quiet Saturday, a sharp change from Friday night when families and many kids hung around the sidewalks. Hill was home with his grandchildren and wife when he heard the shot. He said he opened his door and saw the boy, wearing red shorts and a white T-shirt, but he was unrecognizable from his injuries. Deputies focused their investigation on the breezeway of a back building, where two pools of blood could be seen near the bottom of a staircase. A resident said he saw the Sheriff's Office use police dogs to investigate a wooded area at the back of the complex. The neighbor said he was surprised by the shooting at the gated apartments. "It's quiet except for the noise of kids playing," he said of the gated apartments with a playground and pool in the center.
38. CHICAGO, IL, 5/05/17: A 45-year-old man shot himself in his groin in Jefferson Park on Friday, police said. Originally, police said that at 1 PM the man was in an alley in the 4800 block of West Argyle Street when he heard shots and felt pain. Later, a police source said the man couldn't say how he'd been shot and the wound appeared to have been self-inflicted. The man taken to St. Francis Hospital in serious condition, police said. The man was a documented gang member, a police source said, and he was uncooperative with officers.
39. ST. LOUIS, MO, 5/06/17: A boy, 14, was critically injured when a gun went off as he and his 18-year-old cousin were playing with the weapon Saturday morning, police say. The older cousin later tried to hide the weapon, police said. It happened about 10:15 AM in the 1900 block of President Street, near South Broadway and Lemp Avenue. The gun went off as the cousins played with it, and the younger teen was hit in the abdomen. He was taken to a hospital for treatment and was in critical but stable condition. The older cousin hid the gun, but it was found and the man was arrested. He has not yet been charged with a crime. The investigation is ongoing, police said.
40. COLUMBUS, OH, 5/06/17: Police have identified a man that died in a shooting in north Columbus on Saturday. According to the Columbus Division of Police, officers responded to a report of shooting at an apartment on the 6100 block of Busch Boulevard around 6:20 PM Saturday. When they arrived, officers found 21-year-old Dean Joaquin Mendiola Peredo Jr. suffering from a gunshot wound. Peredo was transported to Riverside Methodist Hospital in extremely critical condition, where he was later pronounced dead. Police said Saturday that Peredo may have been shot accidentally by the suspect, but the shooting is being investigated as a homicide. The suspect has been identified but has not been charged at this time, and police have not released the suspect’s identity. The shooting remains under investigation.
41. BUTLER CO., NE, 5/06/17: A juvenile in Butler County was life-flighted after being shot in the back with a shotgun. Butler County Sheriff Marcus Siebken says in a press release, that on Saturday at approximately 8:36 AM, the sheriff’s office was dispatched to a location in rural Butler County, along with Linwood and David City Rescue Crews. BCSO says upon investigation it was found that a shotgun had been accidentally fired into a juveniles back, at the location. The juvenile was flow to UNMC by medical helicopter and was listed in critical condition, according to the press release.
42. YAKIMA, WA, 5/06/17: More details have emerged in the tragic death of a Yakima teen over the weekend, who police said was killed with a stolen gun. Detectives said the investigation shows 18-year-old Sofia Ramirez accidentally shot herself in the head while playing with a gun at a party Saturday night. Police said that gun was one of the firearms stolen in a robbery at Bi-Mart back in January. Ramirez was found in an abandoned car in a parking lot Sunday morning, after police said friends panicked and left her there when they realized she was dead. Authorities say party-goers admitted to using drugs and alcohol. The toxicology report for Ramirez is pending but authorities said no charges will be filed. "The only potential charges that they could face was illegal transport of a human body, which would have been a misdemeanor," said Yakima Police Department (YPD) spokesperson Mike Bastinelli. "They were all juveniles and they were very cooperative and the information they provided helped us to solve this case." Authorities said a misdemeanor charge would include fines. However, police said they are focusing resources on several unsolved crimes.