Reports of Unintended Gun Violence Collected from Media Reports Across the United States
A Covington, Virginia three-year old found a gun in his home and shot himself to death. His grandfather acknowledged that the gun was his, but told police it was hidden under some clothes. The boy died at the hospital after being airlifted to a trauma center. According to the news report investigators are “searching for …
In Wichita, Kansas, 13-year old Waylon Treat was accidentally shot and killed today. His 16-year old brother had brought home a gun which the boys were examining when it fired. Adults were at home at the time of the incident, but they were apparently unaware that the boys were handling a gun. Waylon was a …
Dameon Bates, age 29, of Toledo, Ohio was shot and killed today when he and a friend were “horsing around” with a gun at a party. Bates died at the scene. His friend Mychal Smith, age 30, was arrested and charged with reckless homicide. In a similar incident today in Dallas, Texas, 18-year old Alexandre …
A sixth grader and a 71-year old were killed today in separate hunting accidents. Both were shot by relatives. Daisy Grace Lynn George, age 11, was shot by her father in Hallsville, Texas while he was hunting with a high-powered rifle. Rescuers arrived on the scene, but rescue helicopters were grounded due to poor weather. …
A ten-year old innocent bystander was one of three people injured when gang-related gun violence broke out on the day after Thanksgiving at a crowded Durham, North Carolina mall. His injuries are not considered life threatening. The shooting led to a mass evacuation, but no suspects were arrested. The shooting was one of two triple …
Three children were killed in unintended gun violence on Thanksgiving Day. In Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a group of kids were making a social media video with a gun on Thanksgiving Day, when one of them accidentally pulled the trigger. A five-year old was shot and killed and a 13-year old has been taken into custody. …
In Memphis, Tennessee, a man accidentally shot himself at a local Express Inn hotel. He was taken to Regional One Hospital in critical condition. Police did not say whether he would face charges. In Lauderhill, Florida, shooting broke out on the street. A man several houses down from where the shooting occurred was grazed by …
A 65-year old Minnesota man was shot in a hunting accident in Northwestern Wisconsin today. Rescue workers arrived too late to revive him. No other circumstances of the accident were reported. Source: Associated Press, “Minnesota Man Dies in Apparent Hunting Accident in Wisconsin,” Fox News 11 (November 24, 2021).
Two Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania children, a four-year old and a five-year old, were shot and killed in separate gun accidents today. The four-year old, apparently found a loaded gun in his home and shot himself in the face. He died at the hospital. “My prayers go out to the family. I feel so bad for them. …
Eric Perez, a 10-year old in Shelbyville, Kentucky, died today in a shooting that appears to authorities to have been accidental. “He was just a fun and energetic little boy — he did his own little thing, that’s why it’s so shocking,” said a neighbor. A police spokesperson added, “[t]hat’s hard especially with the holidays …
In St. Louis, Missouri, a two-year old accidentally shot his father in the back with a rifle. The unidentified man, who was in his 20s, died at the scene. No further information is available. A Corry, Pennsylvania man, 64-year old Gary Hunt, was shot and killed while hunting bear with a friend. According to an …
Police reported accidental shootings today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois, two American cities already notably suffering from the ongoing pandemic of gun violence. In Milwaukee, a 69-year old woman was struck by a random round fired outside her home. Her suffered serious injuries, but is in stable condition at the hospital according to a …
For the second day in a row, a law enforcement officer was shot in a training accident. A correction officer requalifying on her weapon at a training facility in Cedar Grove, New Jersey was reportedly struck in the buttocks when her weapon misfired. Her name was not released and she is expected to be OK. …
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a two-year old boy found a gun next to a bed in his home and shot himself in the stomach. The bullet exited through the boy’s back. The boy’s parents drove him to hospital, where he is listed in stable condition. “Yet another one of our precious children has suffered a critical …
Quadarrien Simmons, age 19, of Perry, Georgia, was accidentally shot and killed in a car when two teenagers in the backseat accidentally discharged a gun. The fired round passed through the back of his seat before it struck him. A local police Captain said that a 19-year-old named Tyrese Brown of Fort Valley and 17-year-old …
In Poughkeepsie, New York, two teenagers fired guns outside a Poughkeepsie High School. A 13-year old with a semiautomatic pistol and a 15-year old were later arrested after fleeing on foot. Several shell casings were found near the school and several vehicles were hit. A short time later, a 19-year old, apparently the victim of …
An innocent bystander in Houston, Texas was accidentally shot and killed today in a 2:00 AM firefight between security guards and a reckless driver. It is unclear if the driver was armed. He was reportedly driving dangerously in a parking lot and had injured two people. The women was killed when security guards confronted …
Kayden Jones, age 8, of Atlanta, Georgia was accidentally shot and killed at his home. Family and friends released red and blue balloons on Sunday at a vigil in his honor. “We’ve been crying all night, all morning,” a neighbor said. “How can you constantly keep trying to explain and get another seven or eight-year-old …
Three common types of gun accidents were illustrated on Friday. In Meeker County, Minnesota, Mike Hendrickson, a hunter, unintentionally fired a gun into his thigh while climbing a tree stand. He was airlifted to the hospital after a tourniquet was applied at the scene of the accident. “His first surgery revealed significant loss of tissue, …
Bystanders were injured in three shootings today. In Chicago, Illinois, a one-year old was shot in the arm while sitting in a car outside a Walgreens store. Two men sitting in another car were also shot. “This is so sad. This s— has to stop, but nobody is doing anything,” said a woman who was …
An off-duty Upper Marlboro, Maryland police officer accidentally shot herself while reporting to a purported crime scene. Following the accident, she was taken to the hospital for surgery and is now in stable condition. According to the report, she responded to an argument at a local barbershop and believed there was a robbery in progress. …
There were accidental shooting deaths today in Beaumont, Texas, where an 18-year old boy died at home and in Kansas City, Missouri, where a woman died on the street. Few details were reported. And in Clark County, Illinois, a child accidentally shot their father while the two were walking in the woods. Sheriff’s deputies called …
Elizabeth Newton Smith, a 59-year old woman in McColl, South Carolina was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter after a rifle purportedly fell and discharged on the porch of her home. David Williams, age 58, was found dead at the scene. If the rifle fell and discharged, any claim that the rifle was defective by …
Three children were injured today in two separate gun accidents. A nine-year old in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was injured when a gun accidentally discharged. According to the report, a group of children were playing with the gun in an apartment when it discharged and struck the child in the hip. The report does not provide …
Jasper Wu, of Fremont, California, was just shy of his second birthday when he was struck and killed by a stray bullet while traveling with his family on Interstate 880 in Oakland. The round was part of an exchange of gunfire between two vehicles traveling in the other direction. No one besides Jasper was struck …
For the second time in a week, there was a gun accident at a gun shop. Today’s shooting at Superior Pawn and Gun in Virginia Beach, Virginia, follows an incident on Tuesday in Charleston, South Carolina in which a gun store employee was killed. Few details were reported about today’s incident, other than it was …
In the Bronx, New York, a woman was hit in the leg by a stray bullet while pushing her 2-year old in a stroller down the street. The baby was not hurt. The shooter, who was involved in an argument with another man, who also pulled a gun, is wanted by police. Source: Liam Quigley, …
In an illustration of how even an accidental shooting can lead to a vicious cycle of violence, four people in Des Moines, Iowa were injured when gunfire erupted at a vigil for an accidental shooting victim. The original accident occurred on March 6, 2021, when Thomas Ivy accidently shot and killed 16-year old Elijah Brown-Townsend …
Jon Whitley, a Charleston, South Carolina gun store owner accidentally shot and killed an employee after mistaking his personal handgun for a bb gun. The accident victim, Stefan Mrgan, age 36, died shortly after officers arrived at the gun store, Coastal Firearms. “A witness told Deputies he saw the two men having a normal conversation, …
In Granite Quarry, North Carolina, a middle school student shot and killed himself when he “mishandled a gun” that he thought was unloaded. At this time, the family has asked for privacy and we ask for everyone to keep the family in thoughts and prayers,” the local police chief said. “We have no further releasable …