A Texas grandfather who was about to officiate a wedding in Nebraska errantly shot and wounded his own 12-year-old grandson when he tried to fire a gun in the air to get the attention of guests Saturday, according to authorities.
Odessa, Texas resident Michael Gardner, 62, is facing legal trouble after the Pietta 1860 snub nose revolver went off around 5 p.m. and accidentally struck the young boy in the shoulder at Hillside Events, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Ben Houchin said during a press conference Monday.
The gun fired a blank round that had black powder in the casing that was glued together, the sheriff’s official said.
Before the attention-catching shot, guests were scattered around the Denton, Nebraska venue because the nuptials started late after someone forgot the wedding rings, Houchin explained.
“When he decided to cock back the hammer of this revolver it slipped and it shot his grandson in the left shoulder, causing an injury,” Houchin said, later adding. “What we believe is the glue injured the child.”
The injury was non-life threatening, though the boy still required hospitalization.
“We do not believe Michael intended to hurt his grandchild, but the act was not very smart,” Houchin said.
Gardner was still slapped with a child abuse charge because of the carelessness and the injury to the youngster, the chief deputy said. He surrendered to authorities Monday.
“It’s just kind of neglectful to take a gun out that has blanks and fire it amongst people,” he said.
I have some friends who are adamant anti gun folk and I get that. It’s what the numbers say is ideal. I used to be pro gun (grew up in a very conservative cult), then anti gun, now I’m somewhere in the middle with “yeah it would be better to reduce the amount of guns but this is kind of where we’re at” and feel like a more pragmatic approach to getting us towards a gun free utopia (read: idealized society that can never be achieved) is probably best. Unfortunately it requires national cooperation and my country, uh, that is not what they do. On a personal level tho I somehow have become the person who gets to inherit all the guns in the family and except for the cool, inoperable civil war rifle we’ve had them all destroyed. That thing’s a show piece though. It’s a historical paperweight. It’s more dangerous as a club (even the bayonette is dull) than as a gun.