The audience for news about accidental/negligent gun discharges is small but earnest. And here in Midland, Texas, an injury causing accidental gunshot gets a bare bones news account. The main thing those of us who are interested want to know is what was the make and model of the gun and how did it happen. It often takes an open records request to get the details, and even then the information is sparse.
In this case, the results of an OR request for the police report says it happened on March 24, 2012, and the gun was a Duo model 635 .25 caliber pistol. Those handguns were manufactured in German occupied Czechoslovakia during WWII, according to WarRelics.eu.
As for how it happened, this is all we get:
Approximately 1131 hours on 032412, I [police officer's name], while working day shift patrol, I was dispatched to [residential address on Pleasant Drive] regarding CFD was en route there to a gun shot victim. The caller advised her husband was walking with the gun, it went off, and hit him in the calf. She advised that the gun was lying next to him.
Upon my arrival, I made contact with [named individual], the complainant and wife to the victim. EMS was already on scene and had the victim in the back of the ambulance. She showed me the gun, which was, now, over on top of the freezer, there in the garage, where the incident occurred.
I've withheld the names and address, but the next 18 lines of the report were redacted by the sender.
The cover letter for the response was signed by the First Assistant City Attorney and contained this tantalizing sentence:
As you requested only the non-confidential information, and the investigation of the crime which forms the basis for the information you have requested is still pending, we are releasing only the basic information pursuant to Section 552.108(c) of the Government Code.
"The crime?" That puts it in an altogether different category. Either they are investigating whether someone shot him intentionally, or they are considering filing criminal charges for a negligent discharge. And either case certainly would make this a newsworthy story.
There is one other possibility, however. There may not really be a criminal investigation, but the FACA merely threw boiler plate language into his letter as a matter of routine.
We'll find out eventually.
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