Well, I debated about posting this at all, but decided the benefits of posting it outweigh any possible problems.
We received a call last night about someone getting shot. Here, in my small town, that's about a once in 25 year occurance. Myself and 2 other officers responded to find the victim had been shot in the back with a 12 gauge from about 2-3 feet distance. Needless to say, he was dead on the scene despite EMS attempts to intervene.
It is probably going to be accidental since all witnesses agree that the person holding the weapon was trying to clear it when it "went off" and there was no malicious intent. Needless to say, there is an important lesson here.
At least 3 of the 4 basic rules of gunhandling were ignored. The shotgun was pointed at the victim, all present ASSUMED the weapon was unloaded and, most likely, the person trying to clear the weapon had his finger on the trigger while doing so. That covers keeping your finger off the trigger, always assume all weapons are loaded and keeping the weapon pointed in a safe direction.
If any 1 of the 3 rules that were disobeyed had been obeyed, most likely the victim would be around and talking instead of in the morgue. If the weapon had been pointed in a safe direction and it "went off", the shot wouldn't have hurt anyone, besides some ear-ringing. If the weapon had been assumed to be loaded, hopefully the person clearing it would have been more careful. If the person clearing it had kept his finger off the trigger, it weapon could well have been loaded and it could, probably, still have been cleared at least semi-safely.
Guys and gals, just BE CAREFUL when dealing with weapons. I will be the first to admit to being rather cavalier about weapons at times, dealing with them on a daily basis as I do. No more. I've never had an AD or anything like it but, after seeing this, I realize that we ALL make mistakes from time to time. It's easy to do when running late for work, being preoccupied, whatever. It's just too bad someone had to die to have the rules of safe gunhandling drilled into our small department like this. Hopefully this expensive lesson will be learned and taken to heart by everyone here.
Bub