Teen thinks he is shooting snake, shoots friend instead

18-year-old Jared Hemphill, of Seminole County, Florida, was with his friends, 18-year-old Brandon Rape and 21-year-old Dustin Downer. They were driving in a pickup truck near Sanford when they pulled to the side of the road so Brandon could answer the call of nature.

The men saw a large snake in the road and Jared decided to shoot it, using a semi-automatic .22-caliber Remington Speedmaster rifle that belonged to Dustin.

When Jared heard a noise in the bushes he thought it was the snake so he fired the gun. The shot hit Brandon in the left thigh.

The trio drove to meet an ambulance and Brandon was taken to the hospital. Doctors decided to leave the bullet in his leg.

Brandon does not want to press charges so no one will be arrested.

Man killed by secondhand gunfire

28-year-old Jonathan Gardner, of Columbus, Ohio was killed when a bullet came through the wall of his apartment and shot him in the chest.

Gardner was taken to the hospital where he later died of his injuries.

Police determined that an individual in the neighboring apartment unintentionally discharged a handgun and the bullet went through a wall, striking Gardner. The person has not been charged yet, but the Franklin County prosecutor is looking into the case.

A neighbor told reporters the shooting has put life in perspective for him. "It's made me realize, you know, he was only 28, he still had a full life ahead of him. Imagine all the things he could have done during his life that got cut short, just because this guy decided he was going to be negligent with a gun. It's made me realize life's too short to throw things away."

Man thought he was shooting burglar, shoots wife instead

A Lawton, Oklahoma man saw a shadowy figure standing in his bedroom so he grabbed his 30 caliber rifle and fired. The intruder turned out to be his wife who was returning from going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

The woman was shot in the shoulder. She was taken to a nearby medical center for treatment.

The man told police that they had been dealing with burglars recently and he thought he was shooting an intruder. Police say it appears to be an accidental shooting.

It was the first time he ever handled a gun and he unintentionally shot & killed someone

21-year-old Benjamin Brown was visiting with friends in the basement of a home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Brown told police he found a handgun under the couch cushion he was sitting on and when he tried to set it on a table, he fumbled the weapon.

When he tried to catch the gun he unintentionally discharged the weapon. He then ran to his vehicle and hid the handgun underneath a seat.

The bullet struck 20-year-old Logan Treguier in the chest. Treguier died at the scene.

Brown told police he had never handled a gun before, that he had no firearm training and he had never shot a gun before the tragic shooting.

Brown was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

Open carry rally rescheduled after local teen unintentionally shoots & kills himself

A local gun group, Arkansas Carry, had planned to march through downtown Jonesboro, Arkansas openly carrying their firearms in a demonstration of what they believe to be Arkansas gun laws. However, the group decided to reschedule their demonstration after a local teen unintentionally shot and killed himself outside of a downtown restaurant. "We did it out of respect for the family of this tragedy that happened," said the spokesperson for Arkansas Carry. "If it would have been gun violence, we wouldn't have stopped it, but it was an accident."

17-year-old Jonathon Bell, of Brookland, Arkansas, was with a youth ministry group from Walnut Street Baptist Church at the Chick-fil-A fast food restaurant on Stadium Boulevard. Bell joined two boys who were outside listening to music in a red truck in the parking lot. When Bell got in the truck he saw a handgun stuffed beside the driver's seat and grabbed it.

According to reports, Bell placed the gun underneath his chin and pulled the trigger, causing the gun to discharge. Bell died from his injuries about two hours later.

Police found three unfired bullets in the truck next to Bell and the youth also had a bullet in his right hand. When police looked at the gun the six-shot revolver had five empty chambers and one fired casing lined up in the firing position of the gun.

The .357 revolver belonged to the grandfather of one of the boys. Police have said the grandfather will not face charges for leaving a loaded, unlocked gun where a minor could access it. "We're not going to file anything," he said. "There's not any charges to pursue."

According to Bell's obituary he enjoyed for frog gigging, fishing, hunting and other outdoor sports and was also an avid pool player.

Man shot while driving on highway by stray bullet from teen's target practice

35-year-old Mark Vanderweide, of Olathe, Kansas was driving with his family along Interstate 35. According to reports Vanderweide said, "I had the wife and three kiddos in the back seat and heard an unsuspecting pop and then there was pain and blood."

The bullet that struck Vanderweide had pierced their 2007 Dodge Caravan as the family drove south on I-35 near the Edgerton Road exit.

The bullet hit Vanderweide in the right let. It hit a main artery and doctors had to take a vein from his left leg to repair the right. How much feeling he will regain is unknown. Vanderweide has months of recovery ahead.

The sheriff's department has determined that a teen target practicing is to blame for the shooting. Their investigation revealed the teen was shooting on a relative's property using a pond dam for a back-stop.

The case has been referred to the County Attorney's office for review.

Longwood University student showing off handgun unintentionally shoots another student

22-year-old Jacob Richardson, of Glen Allen, Virginia, is a junior majoring in criminology at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Richardson left his handgun at a friend's house because "his roommates were having a gathering at his place and he didn't want anything to happen to it."

When he went to get the handgun he decided to show it to his friend, 21-year-old Kathleen Battle. While he was unloading the gun he unintentionally discharged the weapon. Battle was shot in the leg. She was taken to the local hospital then transported to a larger medical center for treatment.

Battle is a majoring in kinesiology and is a member of the lacrosse team.

Richardson has been charged with reckless handling of a firearm.

Man trying to show wife that gun wasn't loaded unintentionally shoots her

37-year-old Matthew Coleman, of Windsor, Vermont, was hanging out with his friend, Brent Baker. Baker had brought his 9 mm handgun to show Coleman.

According to reports, Baker went to sleep in the living room and Coleman brought the gun into his bedroom for safekeeping because there were children in the house.

Coleman's wife, Dorthea, asked him if the gun was loaded. Coleman said it wasn't and in order to show her he racked the slide back while pulling the trigger. The gun discharged and the bullet hit Dorthea, going through-and-through both her legs right behind the knee.

Dorthea was taken to the hospital for treatment. Coleman was arrested and charged with simple assault with a deadly weapon.

3-year-old finds handgun, shoots 2-year-old

Tosha Beaver, of Clarendon County, South Carolina said her 2-year-old son "has come a long way" since being unintentionally shot by his 3-year-old relative.

According to reports, the two boys were visiting with their 23-year-old aunt. They were returning from a walk and ran in the house ahead of her. "Shortly after that, she heard a gunshot."

The report stated the aunt and her husband ran into the house and saw the 3-year-old with a handgun and the 2-year-old lying on the floor. The boy had been shot through both legs.

"He's recovering very fast," said the boy's father. Doctors hope he will be able to leave the hospital and go home in a few more days.

The aunt told deputies the gun is always kept in a cabinet and she did not know how the child managed to get the weapon.

Man killed when neighbor unintentionally discharges shotgun

38-year-old Rene O'Quin was in his bed in his Harvey, Louisiana apartment when his next door neighbor unintentionally discharged a shotgun.

According to police reports, O'Quinn's fiancee found him in a pool of blood, dead in his bed. At first police thought it was a self-inflicted wound but then they noticed a bullet hole in the wall near the bed.

O'Quinn's neighbor, 23-year-old Pierre Camese had gotten into a fight with his girlfriend. Fearing that this girlfriend's relatives would retaliate against him, Camese borrowed a 12-gauge shotgun from a friend and put it on his bed with the barrel pointed at the wall.

As Camese pulled up the covers on his bed, he unintentionally discharged the gun, firing a bullet that pierced the wall between his and O'Quinn's apartments. Camese told investigators he didn't know anyone had been shot.

Camese was arrested and charged with negligent homicide and domestic abuse battery.

Teen unintentionally shot and killed while playing prank on friend

18-year-old Premila Lal, of Longmont, Colorado was with her 12-year-old cousin when they decided to play a prank on her brother, Praveen, and her friend, 21-year-old Nerrek Galley. Premila and her cousin sneaked into the house where Galley was staying, hid in the closet and made noises to scare Galley and Premila's brother.

According to news reports, when they heard the noises Galley gave Praveen a handgun and he took another gun and the pair began to search the house. Premila jumped out of the closet startling Galley, who shot her.

Galley and others rushed Premila to the hospital. Galley carried her into the emergency room. Premila died a short time later.

Galley has been arrested and charged with child abuse, reckless endangerment and permitting a juvenile to have a fiream. None of these charges are directly related to the shooting. Police are still deciding whether or not to charge Galley in Premila's death.

In-laws unintentionally shoot each other in two separate incidents

One family in Chaska, Minnesota is having a rough week. First, a man who was negligently handling a handgun unintentionally shot his father-in-law in the foot.

A few days later, the man who was shot in the foot was also mishandling a handgun when he unintentionally shot himself in the hand. The bullet passed through his hand and struck his wife in the stomach. The family was playing Monopoly at the time.

The son-in-law, who had previously shot his father-in-law in the foot, drove his in-laws to the local hospital. They were transferred to a larger medical center for treatment.

Police say alcohol does not appear to have been involved in either incident.

Child pulls trigger on police officer's gun at reading event, shoots cop

A Lodi, California police SWAT officer was at a Reading Roundup children's community event showing tactical equipment to the children. A boy, about 6 to 8 years old, walked up behind the officer and was able to pull the trigger on the Glock 35 handgun that was holstered on his thigh.

The bullet struck the officer's leg. He was treated at the hospital for a minor injury and released.
According to police, that model Glock "doesn't have an external safety or anything like that. The gun functioned how it was supposed to. When the trigger was pulled, the gun went off."

Lodi police released a statement that read, in part, "this should have never happened, especially in an environment where children were present. We're fortunate this event didn't result in a tragedy."

Investigators want to talk with the boy about what happened so they can prevent incidents like this in the future.