TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2022

Tanner Graap of Merrill, Wisconsin, age 27, was arrested and charged with “homicide by negligent handling of a firearm by a felon” after he accidentally shot and killed 28-year old Kayla Frank today. Frank was sitting in Graap’s kitchen when the accident occurred.

Details in the criminal complaint include that Graap had used heroin before the incident. “He grabbed a handgun and ran toward the kitchen with it while attempting to put it into his left inside chest coat pocket. Graap said he ran into the door frame between an empty room and the kitchen, and the handgun came forward with his finger on the trigger and went off,” according to the complaint.

Source:

Karen Madden, “Judge Sets $25,000 Bond for Merrill Man Charged with Fatal Shooting of Woman Tuesday,” Wausau Daily Herald (January 19, 2022).

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SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2022

Wyatt Luczak

A Kouts, Indiana two-year old died today after finding a loaded gun at home and shooting himself. The boy, Wyatt Luczak, died at the hospital. After a month-long investigation, no charges were filed. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family," the prosecutor said.

In Baldwin, County, Alabama, a four-year old faces surgery after he found a gun in a vehicle belonging to a family friend. He used it to shoot himself in the leg. The boy was with his three-year old brother in the vehicle at the time of the incident. Police do not intend to file charges.

A Jacksonville, Florida 13-year-old removed a gun from the gun safe in his home. As he was holding the gun he shot himself in the hand, and the bullet went through his hand and struck his 13-year-old brother in the upper leg. It is unknown at this time how the boy was able to get into the safe. The children’s mother was at work at the time of the incident. Both children are expected to survive.

At a Waukegan, Illinois, restaurant, a customer asked another restaurant patron if he could hold his gun. While holding it, the gun a ccidentally discharged and struck another restaurant patron. The man who fired the gun was arrested and charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

A Fredricksburg, Virginia, man was at a local Walmart when the gun in his pants pocket went off while he was picking up a case of water. He was struck in the upper leg, but is expected to survive.

In connection with the Luczak case involving the death of a two-year old, the Prosecutor said the following in August, 2022 when declining to issue charges:

"Notwithstanding this horrible tragedy, to sustain a conviction we would by law be required to prove one or both of the parents committed a 'reckless' act as defined by Indiana law as opposed to one that would amount to or be considered as mere negligence," Germann said. "In this case we do not believe we would be able to convince a jury that a reckless act was in fact committed."

Sources:

Hyperlinks above are to source material.

Shattered – The Gun Accident Journal

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