Well, the shooting continues apace, so it's time for another installment of what's becoming a regular feature: the #GunFAIL series.
First, we'll catch up on some old business: stories that didn't make it into previous GunFAIL entries. (See GunFAIL III, Your next installment of GunFAIL News, The Week in GunFAIL News, and Today in GunFAIL News.)
For whatever reason (and there are many, some deeper than others), local news of shootings of any nature don't always break into the traditional media right away, and are sometimes even slower to appear in my online searches. Remember, for all the stories I'm turning up here, my only weapon in this is Google. In other words, all this stuff is happening in numbers great enough that anyone with a computer and Internet access could compile this information just as easily as I can. There's no special magic or professional investigative technique involved. And if there were, you can bet the numbers would likely be much higher.
At any rate, the result of relying on the sometimes slower-moving local media is that often, shooting stories don't get discovered until a week or two after they happened. And in order to give you a picture of the full volume of such stories, I simply add them to the next installment so you don't miss out on them, even though they may chronologically belong in a previous GunFAIL installment.
So with that, it's time to catch up on the news from the end of January, and begin with February. And it's already been a hell of a month.
Stick with us below the fold, for this week's outrageous GunFAIL news.
First, catching up on older news:
- BATON ROUGE, 1/20/13: Detectives have arrested 19-year-old Tyler Washington on a charge of negligent homicide in connection with a shooting that killed 18-year-old Trevon Wilson of Denham Springs, LA. According to the sheriff's office, Washington was carelessly operating a loaded firearm seconds before the gun went off. Officials say the shooting was accidental.
- CUMMING, GA, 1/22/13: A man accidentally shot himself in the hand while he was sleeping, according to a Cumming Police incident report. At 4 p.m. Jan. 22, a man told officers he was asleep when he grabbed a Springfield XD .45 pistol beside his bed and accidentally shot his hand.
- DAYTON, OH, 1/23/13: Police say a man who was shot and found hiding in a bath tub under a shower curtain likely was injured by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Dayton Police said they found James O. Mabry II after a family argument, in which several shots were fired. Mabry told police he ran outside with his .22 caliber handgun to see who was shooting. He said that as he placed his gun in his waistband he accidentally discharged the weapon and shot himself in the leg.
- DURHAM, NC, 1/25/13: A 4-year-old boy found a gun and accidentally shot himself at a house on Brightfield Lane in the Ashefield Place subdivision Friday morning, according to police. Someone called 911 around 8:45 a.m. and reported that the child had fallen off a counter and suffered a head injury. Police said they later determined that the boy had found an unsecured gun and was injured when it discharged.
- CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH, 1/26/13: A resident with an itchy trigger finger inadvertently shot a .40 caliber bullet into his hand. According to the Cuyahoga Falls police report, the man was taking apart a handgun, and it went off.
- DENTON, TX, 1/30/13: The victim said she was trying to clean her .44-caliber Ruger Vaquero when she accidentally shot herself. Police spoke with her boyfriend and noted he was “extremely nervous and smelled of alcohol.” officers noticed blood splatter going at an angle upward from the bed area toward the linen closet. A sergeant noticed glass in the carpet and looked around to notice the door of the closet was missing. The boyfriend then admitted the door was in the bed of his truck. After the boyfriend was transported to the police station, he told police they talked, ate and began drinking before going into the bedroom. There, the boyfriend told the officer, they pulled the gun out and began doing “quick draws” on each other. According to the boyfriend, he didn’t know the gun was loaded and didn’t remember exactly what his girlfriend was doing with her hands but did tell officers he “accidentally shot her,” according to the affidavit.
- HERNDON, VA, 1/30/13: A subject was found to have accidentally discharged a weapon inside of their residence at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 30 in the 2100 block of Highcourt Lane.
- LAKE STEVENS, WA, 1/30/13: A man, 28, was showing another, 21, how to clean and insert a magazine into a firearm, the blotter says. He handed the younger man the loaded magazine, which was inserted into the firearm. There was a round already in the chamber and the gun went off. The bullet went through the apartment wall into the next unit, where it lodged in the couch. One person was home next door at the time but was in another room.
- CRESCENT, IA, 1/31/13: Eighteen-year-old Kory Denton and two friends had been target shooting near a home on Holly Lane in Crescent around 6:20 p.m. and when they finished came inside the house. There they discovered that a cartridge was stuck in the gun, an SKS rifle which had been purchased that day by one of Denton’s friends. They tried using a screwdriver to dislodge it but the cartridge went off, striking Denton in the thigh.
- CROMWELL, CT, 1/31/13: A Middletown man in his 20s was shot in “the chin area” Thursday afternoon in what police say was an accidental shooting. Emzy Barker IV, 50, a resident of the unit, made a “frantic” call to police at 3:23 p.m. reporting that he had shot the victim. When police arrived at Barker’s home, they recovered a Colt Python .357 revolver that police said was used in the shooting.
- DICKINSON, ND, 1/31/13: Dickinson police are investigating the accidental shooting of a 3-year-old child at a mobile home court. Capt. Joe Cianni tells The Dickinson Press that the child took a bullet in an upper thigh Thursday afternoon and will be OK. Police say a handgun was unintentionally fired in the incident.
- MISSION, KS, 1/31/13: A 3-year-old boy was shot in a Mission apartment on Thursday afternoon, police said. Police said the child was shot in the arm and abdomen with a 9 mm handgun. The child was rushed to a hospital and was in stable condition. Investigators said the boy's father was getting ready to clean the gun and left it unattended momentarily.
- LAYTON, UT, 1/31/13: A residential burglary Thursday has so far resulted in two arrests: one for the alleged burglar and one for the homeowner who allegedly fired two shots. Clare B. Niederhauser, 64, was booked into the Davis County Jail for investigation of two counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment. Police say he fired two shots at people who were trying to break into his home. But by the time he fired the shots, the burglars had either surrendered or were trying to run away, said Layton Police Lt. Shawn Horton. "(The burglar) doesn't pose an immediate threat of taking his life or serious bodily injury, and that's what you have to have in order to use deadly force," Horton said.
And now, the past week's pure GunFAIL news:
- ROCK CREEK, OR, 2/01/13: A 25-year-old Rock Creek man accidentally shot himself in the finger this afternoon, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The man told deputies he purchased a new gun Thursday, said Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff's office spokesman. The man took the gun apart Friday at a residence in the 3800 block of Northwest Chemult Place. When he was reassembling the gun, the weapon reportedly went off. He shot the tip of his finger, Ray said.
- CLEBURNE, TX, 2/01/13: Cleburne police say a five-year-old girl is in stable condition after being shot in the abdomen on Friday evening. Investigators said the girl suffered a wound to her abdomen, and that the incident appears to be the result of an accident. Update: Seems dad had just bought himself a new gun. Loading it for the first time, he accidentally shot his daughter.
- GREENVILLE, SC, 2/01/13: The death of a 3-year-old Greenville boy who was shot in the head Friday night has been ruled an accident, Greenville County deputy coroner Jeff Fowler said this morning. Update: Apparently, he found a pink gun, and thought it was a toy.
- LICKING TOWNSHIP, OH, 2/02/13: One person died in what was described as an accidental shooting Saturday night in an apartment just south of Heath. James Ballman, 19, last known address 3300 Refugee Road, Hebron, was killed by a single gunshot wound, said Detective Captain David Starling, of the Licking County Sheriff’s Office. The bullet was fired by one of four other people present at the time, Starling said. Starling said Ballman and the four others had all been handling the gun prior to the shooting. “They were over-handling the gun,” Starling said.
- LAKE WALES, FL, 2/02/13: Upon his arrival, around 6:50 p.m., the victim opened up the rear door to their pickup truck and attempted to place her rifle into the vehicle (the husband was still in the driver’s seat behind the wheel). Unfortunately, the barrel of the rifle was aimed towards the victim as she attempted to place it into the vehicle. According to the husband, and preliminary investigation by PCSO detectives confirms, as she placed the rifle into the truck, the rifle went off and the bullet struck the victim in her right leg, just underneath her pelvis, which caused an enormous amount of blood loss. EMS and the Sheriff’s Office arrived on scene but the victim succumbed to her wound.
- OVID TOWNSHIP, MI, 2/02/13: A teenage girl died Saturday after her 14-year-old brother accidentally shot her with a shotgun, according to authorities. The 13-year-old girl's brother was handling the gun about 4 p.m. at their home when he accidentally discharged it.
- RIVERSIDE, MO, 2/03/13: A 22-year-old man who was shot Sunday evening at a Riverside home has died, police said this morning. The shooting occurred at 8:30 p.m. in the 4800 block of Homestead Road. Josh Anderson, a Riverside resident, was taken to a hospital, where he later died. Police continue to investigate the incident but they said they believe the shooting was accidental.
- MACON, GA, 2/03/13: A 19-year-old Westside High School student was shot in the leg early Sunday morning when a gun accidentally discharged at his home on Perry Avenue. 24-year-old Joshua Isaiah Milner, of Lynmore Avenue, told police he grabbed his gun from the top of a dresser and put his finger on the trigger. The gun went off as he shook hands with his cousin, Shicobe Milner. Joshua Milner told police he thought the chamber was empty. The elder Milner took his cousin to the Medical Center of Central Georgia for treatment.
- LEXINGTON, NE, 2/03/13: Police Chief Tracy Wolf says a 25-year-old man was cleaning a handgun but, failed to fully and properly unload it. The .45 cal weapon discharged sending a bullet through his leg.
- GRANTVILLE, PA, 2/04/13: A man was taken to the hospital Monday evening after he accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a home in Grantville, according to Pennsylvania State Police. The victim, 24-year-old Kevin Sheibe, is in town from Illinois visiting a friend, Hicks said. Sheibe was attempting to clean his friend's Smith & Wesson handgun when the gun went off, injuring Sheibe in the left thigh, Hicks added. "He was cleaning the weapon and he didn’t realize there was a round in the chamber when his finger squeezed the trigger," said Trooper Robert Hicks, a state police spokesman.
- SPENCER, OK, 2/04/13: An Oklahoma County Sheriff's deputy suffered an accidental gunshot wound at a metro gun range on Monday. Spencer Police Chief Virgil Green said the incident happened at the Oklahoma County Gun Range at 4001 North Air Depot Boulevard. The deputy was shot in the lower extremities, possibly a foot or leg, an Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office spokesman said. The sheriff's office was doing some routine training when two deputies went inside a classroom. At some point, sheriff's officials said, one of the deputies checked his weapon and it discharged.
- WOODBURY, NJ, 2/05/13: Authorities say a Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office detective was wounded Tuesday afternoon when a weapon was accidentally dischargednear the criminal justice center in Woodbury.
- PUNKIN CENTER, CO, 2/05/13: Authorities say a Fort Carson soldier is recovering after he was wounded in an accidental shooting at a home shooting range in eastern Colorado. Lincoln County sheriff's Capt. Clint Tweden said Tuesday 18-year-old Reid Potwin was shot in the leg when 21-year-old Zachary Clay's gun went off while he was trying to clean his weapon.
- HATFIELD TOWNSHIP, PA, 2/05/13: An Upper Gwynedd police sergeant was injured Tuesday when he accidentally shot himself in an ankle at a Hatfield police shooting range. Sgt. Stephen Gillen, a 23-year veteran of the force, was training when he tried to draw a handgun from an ankle holster when the gun accidentally discharged. Range supervisors and two other officers were on the scene at the time.
- CHILHOWIE, VA, 2/05/13: Saltville Police Officer Brian Morris, 25, was injured Tuesday morning when he fell at home while carrying his department handgun and accidentally shot himself in the arm. The accident happened just after Officer Morris got home from his shift, around 5:45 a.m., said Saltville Police Chief Rob Hall. “He was moving from one place to another in his home. He stumbled and fell,” said Hall. “He was carrying his weapon at the time.” “Officer Morris is a military veteran. He served in Iraq,” said Hall. “He was involved in explosive situations, you could say, and in the privacy of his own home he injured himself with his own weapon. It just points out that things can happen anywhere at anytime to anybody. When it comes to firearms, you can take nothing for granted.”
- LANCASTER, OH, 2/05/13: Police said Jason David Moore, 25, allegedly shot his girlfriend, Kali Sheumaker, 27, of Lancaster, Monday about 5:15 p.m. at their home, 1531 Amherst Place. A man who identified himself as Jason Moore called 911 after the incident and said he had shot Sheumaker after an argument, adding he hadn’t meant to and didn’t know the gun was loaded. He told a dispatcher he and Sheumaker had been arguing and he had pulled out a handgun he recently had bought and was playing with it. He said he pulled the trigger repeatedly but never expected it to go off. He also said on the call he had been in the military and knew how to handle a gun but didn’t think it was loaded.
- SHAWNEE COUNTY, KS, 2/05/13: A woman was taken to a Topeka hospital with an injury not considered to be life-threatening after she was wounded Tuesday afternoon in what police officers believe to be an accidental shooting. Cpl. Justin Roberts, of the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office, said officers were called to 8321 N.W. First Street in western Shawnee County around 3:15 p.m. Tuesday. They found the victim, who was able to respond to questions, and a man believed to be in possession of a gun when it discharged.
- SAN ANTONIO, TX, 2/05/13: Five people were inside a car parked at the apartment complex when the woman in the driver's seat was shot in the lower back, San Antonio police said. According to an SAPD detective, one of the people inside the car, 18-year-old Trevor Mays, pulled out a gun and started handling it recklessly. The gun fired and hit the woman. The suspected shooter then ran into the apartment complex, police said. While police were trying to locate the shooter, the other people in the car gave officers a false description of the suspect, a detective said.
- ST. PETERSBURG, FL, 2/06/13: An employee with the U.S. Marshal's office sustained non-life threatening injuries from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday at a Pinellas County Sheriff's firing range. Deputies say a firearm was unintentionally discharged at the Sheriff's Office Range, 11700 34th St. N. in St. Petersburg. Officials are not releasing the name of victim since due to their current work assignment with the U.S. Marshals. Around 9 a.m., Pinellas County deputies say members of the U.S. Marshals were utilizing the range for various shooting exercises when the employee suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the upper leg. The employee was treated at the scene and hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. An investigation is ongoing.
- NORTH CHARLESTON, SC, 2/06/13: North Charleston police now say the man injured in a shooting at a hotel Wednesday accidentally shot himself and also had meth. 34-year-old Shawn Corey Walsh was charged with filing a false report and possession of a methamphetamine. Walsh told police he was walking near his hotel room, when he was approached by a man who asked him for a light for a cigarette. Walsh told police he went into his room to get the lighter and saw the suspect standing in front of his room. Walsh said the suspect pushed him back into the room and pulled out a gun, and a struggle ensued in which the suspect tried to grab the gun. Walsh was shot in the right hand. Police arrested him after they determined he made the story up.
- DENISON, TX, 2/06/13: A shooting that is believed to be accidental sent one man to the hospital, after he apparently shot himself with his own gun inside his truck. The man was shot in the thigh, according to police Sgt. Paul Neumann. Witnesses say the man in his 30's lives in the area, but had been staying at the motel. He was in his white pickup truck when the gun went off.
- GRANITEVILLE, SC, 2/06/13: A Graniteville man reportedly shot himself in the right ring finger while he was putting his gun away in his home on Wednesday.
- NAMPA, ID, 2/06/13: Police in Nampa say a man who confronted a stranger in the backyard of a friend's house was stabbed and then shot in the leg with his own gun before the attacker ran away. Witnesses told police the victim saw a man he didn't know in his friend's backyard and went outside to confront him. They fought and the victim was stabbed. Police say the victim's gun went off during the struggle, but it isn't clear who fired it.
- CHILLICOTHE, MO, 2/06/13: A 23-year-old woman is hospitalized after accidentally shooting herself Wednesday evening in the 600 block of Webster Street. Chillicothe Police were dispatched to Hedrick Medical Center's emergency room after receiving the report of a female subject with a gunshot wound. According to the report, the woman sat down in the driver's seat of a pickup truck, while it was parked in the 600 block of Webster Street. She then scooted herself toward the middle of the truck and picked up a 9 mm handgun that was lying on the seat, which she believed was unloaded. As she placed the gun on her lap, she accidently shot herself in her groin area, the report stated.
- LAS CRUCES, NM, 2/07/13: Las Cruces Police are investigating what appears to be an accidental shooting that occurred early Thursday afternoon inside a business on east Lohman Avenue. Police report that around 12:30 p.m. an 18-year-old employee of Pool Tech Pools and Spas, at 2331 E. Lohman Ave., was inside the store handling a .40-caliber handgun when the weapon appears to have accidentally discharged. The man was struck in his upper-right thigh. The man was treated at the scene by fellow employees and first responders prior to being airlifted to University Medical Center of El Paso. No other injuries were reported.
- TORRANCE, CA, 2/07/13: Two women who were shot by Los Angeles police in Torrance early Thursday during a massive manhunt for an ex-LAPD officer were delivering newspapers, sources said. The women, shot in the 19500 block of Redbeam Avenue, were taken to area hospitals, Torrance police Lt. Devin Chase said. They were not identified. One was shot in the hand and the other in the back, according to Jesse Escochea, who captured video of the victims being treated. A second shooting, involving Torrance police officers, occurred about 5:45 a.m. at Flagler Lane and Beryl Street in Torrance. No injuries were reported in that incident. Chase said that in both instances police came across vehicles they thought were similar to the one Dorner is believed to be driving. Neither vehicle was Dorner's.
- CAPITOLA, CA, 2/07/13: Capitola Police said the man who was shot in the leg near the Capitola Wharf on Wednesday night accidentally shot himself. It happened on the 5000 block of Cliff Drive. Officers said the Santa Cruz man was on scene with another person. They said both of them did not cooperate in the investigation. The man was taken to a hospital and is expected to be ok.
- COLUMBUS, GA, 2/07/13: A Columbus police recruit was sent to the hospital this morning after accidentally being shot at the Columbus Police Department's firing range. Officers were preparing for a firearms training exercise when a male officer discharged his weapon, striking a recruit in the forehead. The man was not seriously injured.
- LANDER, WY, 2/07/13: Police responded to the 300 block of South First Street in Lander on the report of a 26-year-old man who had apparently accidentally shot himself in the foot while cleaning a .22 caliber gun. He was transported to Lander Regional Hospital for treatment of the wound. Carey said officers later received a call concerned for the man’s welfare after he had been released from the hospital. Officers made contact with man a second time and he was taken to LRH on a Title 25 admission for observation so as not to harm himself again.
- PRESIDIO CO., TX, date unknown: A Presidio County game warden responded to a nonfatal hunting accident at Penitas Ranch. When he arrived, the game warden learned that the hunter was trying to cross over a fence when his loaded shotgun fell from its rest and discharged, resulting in the injury.
- BEND, OR, 2/07/13: A Bend woman was cited on assault and reckless endangering charges Thursday after a loaded .22-caliber Derringer pistol fell out of her pocket during a visit to McDonald’s and it went off, striking her husband in the abdomen and seriously wounding him, police said.Richard Lee Cooper, 47, and wife Barbara Annette Masters, 48, were sitting in the restaurant’s dining area when Masters leaned forward and a the gun fell out of her pocket and hit the floor. The impact with the floor caused the gun to go off, with the bullet striking Cooper in the abdomen, he said.
Finally, that delicate category of GunFAIL news that includes suicides, domestic violence and the like:
- NEWARK, OH, 1/29/13: Police have arrested a man suspected of kidnapping and holding his girlfriend at gunpoint Tuesday. During the incident, the gun went off and a bullet was found later on the floorboard of a vehicle used during the abduction, according to the release.
- PEARISBURG, VA, 1/29/13: The mayor of a central Virginia town will remain behind bars as he faces charges of firing a gun and then putting it to the head of his wife during an argument. Special prosecutor Mike Fleenor told the court that Ould threatened to shoot his wife as she tried to leave the couple's home on Jan. 29.
- OTIS, OR, 1/30/13: Unattended death in Cherryhill Trailer Park, Otis. Complainant advised that her husband had shot himself. Subject is currently on the front porch of the location. Complainant advised the firearm is laying beside him.
- PORT ST. LUCIE, FL, 2/01/13: A 22-year-old who shot himself in the head Friday at an indoor shooting range in St. Lucie West has died, said Master Sgt. Frank Sabol, Port St. Lucie police spokesman.
- MURPHYS, CA, 2/02/13: Authorities say a man in the tiny Sierra Nevada community of Murphys has shot and killed his teenage son and daughter before killing himself.
- IRVING, TX, 2/03/13: An Irving man walked his 5-year-old daughter to a neighbor on Sunday afternoon, then returned home where he killed his wife and fatally shot himself in an apartment murder/suicide, Irving police said Monday. The man left a note and family members were aware that the couple had been having marital problems, police said. Irving police responded to a report of a suspicious circumstance shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday in the 1800 block of Jordan Court.
- ALCOA, TN, 2/03/13: Financial pressure and domestic issues could have played into a double murder-suicide in Alcoa. The Daily Times reported 47-year-old Amos Louis Turbyfill Jr. is thought to have fatally shot his girlfriend and her teenage son and then killed himself. The victims were 39-year-old Stacy Lynn Wade and 18-year-old Joshua J. Demetri. Police said Demitri's body was found on a couch and the bodies of Turbyfill and Wade were found in a bed late Sunday with a gun between them.
- BROOKLYN, NY, 2/05/13: A 63-year-old woman was killed Tuesday after her gun-toting brother blasted away at her and her daughter in Brooklyn, cops and residents said. The 70-year-old suspect, whom sources identified as William Thurman, was arguing with his sister and her 37-year-old daughter in an E. 25th St. apartment near Avenue D in East Flatbush when he pulled a gun and opened fire at 9:50 a.m., cops said. Police sources said Thurman snapped after his sister asked him to leave because he wasn’t paying his share of the rent.
- WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA, 2/05/13: A York County man shot and killed his terminally ill wife with a rifle late Tuesday night and then killed himself, according to state police. Police said that Sherman Brown, 85, used a .22 caliber rifle to kill Jeanette Brown, 84, who was terminally ill with cancer. An investigation revealed that her health was significantly deteriorarating, police said.
- COLUMBUS, GA, 2/05/13: A 38-year-old Army captain shot a 27-year-old woman and then turned the gun on himself Tuesday afternoon near an open storage unit at American Storage Rental Spaces, officials said.
- MARION, NC, 2/05/13: Authorities say a deadly shooting in McDowell County late Tuesday appears to be a murder suicide attempt. It left one person dead, and another in the hospital with life threatening injuries. Authorities believe 16-year-old Abraham Valdez shot and killed 18-year-old Daniel Escobar, then shot himself in the head.
- DENVER, CO, 2/06/13: Two children and a woman were shot and killed Wednesday morning in a possible murder-suicide at a Denver home. A third child was rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries sustained during the shooting incident, according to KDVR-TV. The child, who was seen by neighbors being wheeled out of the house on a stretcher, is currently listed in critical condition at Denver Health Medical Center. Authorities appeared to be zeroing in on the theory that the tragic incident was a murder-suicide involving the mother and her children, according to KDVR.
- LAKE WORTH, FL, 2/06/13: Detectives are investigating what appears to be a murder and suicide this afternoon in Lake Worth, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies responded at about 12:30 p.m. to a welfare check in the 100 block of South Lake Side Drive. They found two men dead from what appears to be gunshot wounds, said Teri Barbera, sheriff’s spokeswoman.
- UTICA, NY, 2/06/13: Police might never know why 37-year-old Jerry McNair first apparently killed one of his girlfriends, before then turning the gun on himself in a West Utica apartment Wednesday.
- GREENSBORO, NC, 2/06/13: Two people found dead in their home died as a result of a murder-suicide, police said today. Police responding to a 911 call found Karla Betrice Aquillir Ramirez, 28, and her husband Roberto Armando Guillen, 59, inside the home. Police said Guillen fatally shot Ramirez, then shot himself.
- BELOIT, WI, 2/06/13: Investigators in Rock County want to know what led a man to kill his neighbor in a barn near Beloit, and then shot himself. Sheriff Robert Spoden said today that 75-year-old Danial Bellard shot and killed a neighbor, 59-year-old Christine Gestrich.