Thursday, January 13, 2011

Homecoming queen unintentionally shot and killed at fraternity house

Ashley Cowie had been homecoming queen in high school. A sophomore at Florida State University, Ashley was shot and killed Sunday morning at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house on the FSU campus. 20-year-old Evan Wihelm has been charged with manslaughter in Ashley's death.
Wilhelm told police he was showing friends a new flashlight accessory on his rifle and he didn't realize the gun was loaded. The gun discharged and the bullet hit 20-year-old Ashley in the chest before hitting another student in the wrist. Ashley died at the scene.
Firearms are prohibited on public university campuses in Florida. The fraternity is a private building, but the lease agreement specified that no guns were allowed in the building. The State Attorney's office is looking into whether any gun-related charges will be added.
Ohh shoot.

4 comments:

Baldr Odinson said...

Yet another case where a load indicator AND better training to check for a round in the chamber would have prevented tragedy. Or, better yet, not having a gun at all!

japete said...

And how about the idea of guns on our campuses?? Sounds like a great idea.

Jon said...

It must be difficult to get a good education without a sidearm.

Anonymous said...

I like how this is being advertised as "guns on campus", which admittedly sounds problematic at face value. Correctly, the law is to allow concealed handgun licensees to also carry on campuses. There is a major difference between the average gun owner mentioned in this story, and someone with a concealed handgun license. Let's keep the discussion on track.