Reports of Unintended Gun Violence Collected from Media Reports Across the United States
Four-year-old is Shot and Killed During Alleged Gun Safety Demonstration with Magazine Removed Four-year-old Evangeline Gunter was shot and killed by Breanna Runions, 25, on Sunday August 27 in Rockwood, Tennessee. Runions claimed she was trying to demonstrate gun safety to the toddler. Runions’ girlfriend and another child, a 7-year-old, were in the same room …
Brooklyn Boy Shot by Another Child Who Had Removed the Gun’s Magazine According to police, a 12-year-old boy was shot today in Brooklyn, New York by another child inside a Brownsville apartment building. He was shot in the shoulder but is expected to survive. After watching surveillance video and speaking with witnesses, police concluded that …
A Deadly Accident with a Ghost Gun Andre Skinner of New Orleans, Louisiana, was charged with negligent homicide after he told police that he was trying to take apart a ghost gun “to become more familiar with it.” He first removed the magazine but wasn’t aware that there was a round still in the chamber. …
Alden Guillory, age 21, of Austin, Texas, was showing his friends his new gun when he unintentionally fired it and struck Eric House, age 20, in the neck. House died after being taken to the hospital. According to a witness, Guillory was a “competent” gun user, who was showing his friends how to properly unload …
A six-year-old and a twelve-year-old were shot and killed today with guns that they found in their homes. The six-year-old, Zi Zi Olmstead, was killed at his home in Calhoun, North Carolina, when he found a Taurus 9mm pistol in his mother’s bedroom while she was outside with the dog. Zi Zi’s mother heard a …
Aston Simmons, a 28-year old Apollo Beach man, was arrested after a 5-year old found a loaded gun in a bedroom and shot himself. A substantial amount of marijuana was also found at the scene. The child is in critical condition at the hospital. Simmons has been charged with unlawful storage of a firearm among …
A St. Petersburg, Florida 15-year old accidentally shot and killed himself today while handling a pistol. Officials said this is at least the third accidental shooting involving a Tampa Bay area child since the middle of July. Last month, a 16-year-old was killed when investigators said he was accidentally shot by a 15-year-old friend while they …
In Madison, Tennessee, a man accidentally shot his brother in the face while cleaning his gun. The injured man is in critical condition at the hospital. No charges are expected. There is no report on whether the gun involved in the incident had a loaded chamber indicator, a magazine safety disconnect, or was a Glock, …
The Problem of Relying on a Gun Seller as an “Expert” on Gun Safety According to the original report, police concluded that an Independence, Missouri eight-year old found a gun in his family’s home and shot himself. He was transported to the hospital where he later died. “We are just trying to put all the …
Every type of gun safety problem was on display in gun accidents that occurred today. All of today’s accidents are tragic, but none more so than the death of a Texas two-year old in Lawrence, Kansas who was shot in the chest while visiting at a local home. Details of the circumstances of the accident …
According to a witness, a guest at the Omni Dallas hotel in Dallas, Texas accidentally shot himself in the torso while cleaning a gun in his room. He was found dead by police. There is no report of the type of gun involved in the accident, including whether the gun had a loaded chamber indicator …
In Little Rock, Arkansas, a three-year old found a loaded gun and shot himself in the eye. The boy is in critical condition at the hospital. There was no discussion in the article about how the boy obtained an unsecured loaded gun or about why manufacturers are allowed to design guns that a three-year old …
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 22-year old man was arrested after pointing and firing a gun that he believed to be unloaded. The man, Zachary Shipley, was playing video games with his friend, Christian Price, also 22, and wanted to frighten him. Price was struck in the head and killed. Shipley had taken the magazine out …
One man accidentally shot himself and another shot a teenager while cleaning their guns today. Typically, such accidents can be prevented with load indicators, magazine safety disconnects, manual safeties or cleaning protocols that do not require a trigger pull. Remarkably many guns, including Glocks, require that the trigger be pulled for disassembly and cleaning, leading …
In Holt, Michigan, a woman accidentally shot both herself and her boyfriend with a single round fired from her recently purchased handgun. She had removed the magazine from the weapon and did not realize that there was still a round in the chamber. Apparently, the gun had no magazine safety disconnect. Both the woman and …
In Hardeman County, Tennessee, Jonterrious Hampton was arrested and charged with reckless homicide after a gun accident in which a 7-year old boy was killed. After the incident, Hampton took the boy to a local hospital where the boy was pronounced dead. According to Hampton, he was visiting the boy’s siblings at their home. During …
Lessons Learned: [note: hyperlinked material shows in dark blue] November 15, 2020 marked the one-year anniversary of Shattered: The Gun Accident Journal. There are now more than 366 daily reports in the archive, categorized by state and tagged for common safety issues. There are also five chronological narratives that illustrate the steady accumulation of family …
Two people were hurt today in another accident that could have been prevented by a magazine safety disconnect. Two cousins, ages 16 and 21, in Holly Hill, South Carolina were parked in a car when the older boy removed a pistol from his backpack and removed the magazine. Shortly afterward, the mother of the 16-year-old …
In Mesa, Arizona, 20-year old Tyler Rascon died in an accident caused by the absence of a magazine safety disconnect. His 21-year old friend, Michael Whipple, is under arrest. According to a report, the accident is explained in court documents: “it all started when Whipple, his girlfriend, Rascon, and a witness had returned to Whipple’s …
In Kearns, Utah, 16-year old Roman Karpunin was accidentally shot and killed by his 18-year old friend Kaden Christiansen. Christiansen was arrested and charged with a single count of manslaughter. According to the arrest report, “Christiansen told police he was ‘mimicking being a police officer and arresting’ the 16-year-old when he pulled the trigger, thinking …
Michelle Ansley, a 40-year old Thomson, Georgia woman was accidentally shot by a family member who was cleaning his gun. Ansley was shot in the leg and was taken to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead. Police are investigating, but gun cleaning accidents are common, especially with certain guns that lack basic safety …
Criminalizing the Negligence of Caregivers May Let Manufacturers Off the Hook It is quite clear from any rational child safety perspective that manufacturers should be discouraged or prevented from designing guns that children can easily fire. Better designs can be achieved with effective external manual safeties, magazine safety disconnects, heavier trigger pulls or trigger designs …
An 11-month old child in Plymouth Massachusetts was injured when a gun was accidentally fired near his home. The boy was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The boy’s neighbor, a licensed gun owner, accidentally discharged his gun, according to the local police chief. “He says he was putting a trigger guard on it, …
For the second day in a row, a child was accidentally shot by an older relative in Houston, Texas. According to sheriff’s deputies, 19-year old Caitlyn Smith accidentally shot her 10-year old nephew while she was taking selfies with a gun. The Sheriff announced that Ms. Smith was arrested and charged with “Injury to a …
The clearest lesson that emerges from the tragedies reported in this journal is that we all can do more to make guns safe. Some recommendations: Better and More Frequent Safety Training. Many gun advocates and gun organizations like to say that all gun accidents are caused by the shooter. According to these activists, the …
A bullet accidentally fired in Chesterton, Indiana, near Gary, passed through two adjoining apartments and narrowly missed a three-year old child. According to a police report, Samuel Duley, a 22-year old, was cleaning his rifle inside the apartment building when it went off. He had removed the gun’s ammunition clip, but “he must have spaced …
15-year old Bradley Hulett was shot and killed in Lithia, Florida at the home of his friend, the son of a Tampa police officer. A group of four teenage boys was present at the time of the shooting. According to a subsequent news report about the investigation, some of the boys found the gun in …
A 23-year old in Port Lavaca, Texas shot and killed himself today in an incident that police believe was accidental. He and a group of other young men were playing with a gun that had had its magazine removed. Presumably, he aimed the gun at his head without knowing that there was a round in …