A Cambridge, MA, fire captain was hospitalized this week and is now on sick leave after he accidentally shot himself in a fire station. The captain was in a stairwell of the fire station when he was removing a personal firearm and holster from his jacket pocket in an attempt to attach it to his belt when it fired, hitting the captain in his hip area.
We had a report on a similar incident last week when moving a gun from the belt to the jacket pocket.
Be careful. Don’t play with it.
28-year-old Zachary Jacob Creel is a City of Madison, MS police officer and Rankin County resident who negligently shot his roommate in the head with a new gun last week at their home near Flowood.
Creel, who was off duty at the time, told Rankin County sheriff’s deputies the weapon discharged while he was pulling it from the holster (and undoubtedly pulling the trigger) to show the roommate, striking him on the right side of his head. The victim is hospitalized and in stable condition.
The Rankin SO investigator said no charges are expected.
But just over a year ago and just 7 miles up the road, a church member (with a CCW permit) was arrested and charged by the Flowood PD with unlawfully discharging a firearm in city limits after his gun unintentionally went off in church and didn’t hurt anyone. I guess off duty cops who shoot people in the head get special treatment.
Be careful. Don’t play with it.
A former Glasgow, KY, police officer is suing a Barren County gun store after being handed a loaded gun from under the counter, in which he then proceeded to apparently chamber a round and “accidentally” shot his own finger off. If you don’t point it at yourself and pull the trigger, you probably won’t shoot yourself. Video here.
This is a too-common occurrence at gun shops and especially gun shows. Here’s the drill:
The clerk should always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction and check to be sure it’s empty before handing it off, still pointed in a safe direction. The customer should then, still keeping it pointed in a safe direction, check for himself that the gun is empty. When he hands it back to the clerk (still pointed in a safe direction), the clerk should check it for ammo again before replacing it in the counter.
If I’m on the jury, the former cop gets 90% of the blame and the clerk maybe 10%. And I’d say he’s not bright enough to be a cop. If someone hands you the keys to a car that has gas in the tank and you go wreck it and hurt yourself, is it the fault of the person who didn’t make sure the tank was empty?