Three Boys are Wounded in Separate Gun Accidents

In Denton, Nebraska, Michael Gardner, 62, fired a blank to get the attention of wedding guests, and unintentionally shot his 12-year-old grandson. Gardner was set to officiate at the wedding when he fired the shot from his Pietta 1860 snub nose revolver. The revolver slipped, sending a round into his grandson’s shoulder. The boy went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Gardner had made his own blank rounds by putting black powder into a .45 caliber casing and gluing it shut. Deputies believe the glue is what injured the boy after recovering the handgun and the spent casing. Gardner has not yet been charged, but he was arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse. “It’s just kind of neglectful to take a gun out, that has blanks, and fire it amongst people,” said the chief deputy.

A 17-year-old boy is in critical but stable condition after being accidentally shot in Deltona, Florida. The boy was with other teens in a car at a park. One of them handled a gun in the back seat that discharged, striking the front seat passenger in the back. The shooter, Jeremie Cuevas, 17, told investigators he was attempting to retrieve a cellphone in the same pocket that contained the gun when it fired. Cuevas faces multiple charges, including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed firearm.

And in a Watertown, Connecticut home, a 14-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the head with an unsecured .22 caliber handgun he was playing with. He remains in critical but stable condition in the hospital. Police confiscated 23 guns in the home and noted that only a few were safely stored, as they continue to investigate. So far no one has been arrested, as deputies talk to prosecutors about possible charges.

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