Man accidentally shoots himself and his wife during a talk on 'gun safety in places of worship' at a church
BY Jessa Schroeder
Daily Mail
November 18, 2017
A man accidentally shot himself and his wife while giving a lecture about guns in places of worship following recent nationwide shootings.
The incident took place Thursday afternoon at the First United Methodist Church in Tellico Plains, Tennessee.
Police say two unnamed individuals, in their 80's, were immediately transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
They suffered non-life threatening injuries after the gun lesson went horribly wrong.
It seems the elderly husband took out his '.380 caliber Ruger handgun, removed the magazine, cleared the chamber, and showed the gun to some of the men in the church' at the time, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Police Chief Russ Parks said when the man put the magazine back in, he loaded a round in the chamber without thinking twice.
When another person approached him to inquire about the gun, the man took it back out of its holster and said: 'With this loaded indicator, I can tell that it's not loaded', just before pulling the trigger.
The wife standing nearby was shot through her abdomen and the man, in the hand, according to the newspaper.
He 'evidently forgot that he re-chambered the weapon,' Parks said of the incident.
The incident comes nearly two weeks after Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire into the congregation of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, killing 26.
Just prior to the massacre, Kelley posted a photo of a AR-15 style gun to his Facebook page, while writing in a caption: 'She's a bad b***h.'
Some victims of the attack included eight members of one family, a pregnant mother and her three children, a toddler and the pastor's daughter.
Police said following the deadly attack there was likely 'no way' congregants would have escaped.
'He (Kelley) just walked down the center aisle, turned around and my understanding was shooting on his way back out,' said Wilson County Sheriff, Joe D. Tackitt Jr.
'It's unbelievable to see children, men and women, laying there. Defenseless people.'
1 comment:
WITHOUT THINKING TWICE is the operative phrase there, or maybe WITHOUT THINKING would be more accurate. Brain on autopilot is not good in those circumstances.
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