Four teenagers were accidentally shot today in separate incidents. Three of the teens shot themselves. Two of the incidents, though unrelated, occurred at the same apartment complex in Atlanta, Georgia, just blocks away from where another teen had been accidentally shot last week.
In Augusta, Georgia, a 14-year old boy shot himself in the hip while playing with a gun. He is expected to survive.
The two Atlanta incidents happened in a single apartment complex several hours apart. In the first, a 13-year old girl was struck in the head by a bullet that entered her apartment. She was reportedly alert when taken to the hospital for treatment. Later in the day, a 14-year old boy accidentally shot himself in the leg on the street. The police do not believe that the two incidents were related.
Nor were the two incidents related to an incident that occurred just blocks away last Tuesday, when a 12-year old Atlanta girl was taken to the hospital with a bullet wound after a gun was accidentally fired in the home next door. In that incident, the girl’s neighbor was arrested and charged with reckless conduct.
Also today, in West Lafayette, Indiana, 19-year old Dusten Burke shot himself in both legs while handling his roommate’s new handgun. According to the news report, Burke “learned a gun safety lesson the hard way.”
A local sheriff’s deputy said, “[b]efore allowing another person to handle a semiautomatic pistol, … proper gun safety dictates that the piece should be unloaded — the magazine removed — the round removed from the chamber, the slide locked back and the chamber visually inspected. Only then should the other person be allowed to handle the firearm.”
Sources:
Sidney Heiberger, “14-year-old Accidentally Shoots Himself on Tobin Street in Augusta,” 12/26 On Your Side (November 29, 2020).
Chelsea Prince, “2 Children Shot in Separate Incidents at SW Atlanta Apartment,” The Atlanta Journal Constitution (November 30, 2020).
Ron Wilkins, “West Lafayette Teen Accidentally Shoots Himself in Both Legs,” Journal & Courier (November 30, 2020).