Colton Alexander Adkins

19-year-old Killed by Friend With Rifle In Salisbury, North Carolina, 19-year-old Jayden Hunter Hicks was killed, after his friend, Colton Alexander Adkins, also 19, unintentionally shot him with a rifle. The two teens were in Adkin’s room listening to music, when Adkins pointed a rifle he believed to be unloaded at Hicks and pulled the …

Search by Category

From the Archives

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2021

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 while handing him a gun in a car. Ivy, age 19, was charged with involuntary manslaughter after police concluded that he carelessly pointed the gun at Brown-Townsend during the exchange. The gun, as guns do, accidentally fired.

Today, at a Des Moines vigil for Brown-Townsend, a dispute arose, guns were pulled and four more people were shot and injured, three of them teenagers: age 14, 15 and 19. A 33-year old woman was also shot and injured. None of the injuries are life-threatening, and all of today’s victims are likely to survive. Police are investigating, but no arrests have been made.

Source:

Philip Joens, “Four People Shot, Injured at Wednesday Vigil for Slain Des Moines Shooting Victim,” Des Moines Register (November 4, 2021).

Shattered – The Gun Accident Journal

Tag: Colton Alexander Adkins

SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2025