Florida National Guardsman in town to assist with RNC unintentionally shot with own gun

21-year-old Michael Wdowiak is a Florida National Guardsman out of Ocala, Florida. He is in Tampa with his unit to assist with the Republican National Convention. Thursday night he was in a hotel room in St. Petersburg with three other people. Another Florida Guardsman, 26-year-old Jeffrey Spurr, was checking out the grip on Wdowiak's .357 revolver when he unintentionally discharged the gun.
Wdowiak was struck in the upper chest and hand and taken to the local hospital for surgery on the wounds.
According to police alcohol does not appear to be a factor and currently no charges are being filed.
"The unit is here to assist at the RNC," said a spokesperson for the sheriff. She did not specify what their role at the RNC entailed.
The incident comes just a day after a Secret Service agent assigned to Mitt Romney left her loaded handgun in the bathroom of the campaign plane. The gun was found by a CBS News producer.

Unintentional shot inside van wounds 4-year-old

A mother and her four children were traveling on Highway 54 in Jonesboro, Georgia when the mother heard a pop in the backseat. According to police, "She looked back into the backseat and saw that her 4-year-old daughter was slumped over. She had been shot while she was in the car seat."
The woman pulled over and called 911. The girl, who was shot in the head, was airlifted to the children's hospital in Atlanta. Police said she was in critical condition.
Police found a gun inside the van but would not say if the girl shot herself of if she was shot by one of the other children inside the van.
The incident remains under investigation.

Man shoots gun in air to try and stop people from fighting, bullet hits and kills innocent bystander

21-year-old Anton Louis, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was trying to intimidate some people and also prevent a fight so he fired a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson semi-automatic handgun into the air. The bullet struck 28-year-old Derrion Banks who was standing on the second-story landing in front of his apartment unit.
Derrion was hit in the chest and right arm. He died from the gunshot wounds.
Police received a tip saying the two suspects, Anton Louis and Terrel Johnson, were in a maroon Cadillac at a nearby Walmart. Police stopped the car and asked the driver, Louis' father and the two passengers, Louis and Johnson, if they could search the car for handguns. All three agreed.
Detectives found the .40-caliber handgun wrapped in a sock, stuck in a shoe, inside a suitcase in the trunk.
According to reports, Louis initially admitted to firing the gun in order to stop a fight. He later changed his story and said he did not shoot the gun and challenged detectives to produce an eyewitness to the shooting.
Louis was arrested and charged with one count of murder.

Woman trying to shoot skunk unintentionally shoots husband instead.

A College Station, Texas woman was trying to shoot a skunk that was eating from the cat bowls that she kept outside the back porch. She got her .45-caliber handgun (which she keeps in her purse and for which she has a concealed weapons permit) and shot at the skunk as it was near the bowls.
She missed. The bullet ricocheted off the porch, went through the back door and struck her husband in the abdomen. The bullet missed his vital organs and lodged in his hip. He was airlifted to the hospital in Houston where he was treated and released the next day.
Police will present their findings to the prosecutor.
"Discharging a firearm in that situation was probably not good judgment," said the county sheriff. "It certainly was reckless but I don't know if anyone would be served if any charges were to be filed."

Man unintentionally shoots wife while couple sleeping in bed

San Antonio, Texas police responded to a shooting at an unidentified couple's home in the 7400 block of Pipers Bluff just before 3 a.m. Monday morning.
According to reports, the husband keeps an loaded, unlocked handgun on his nightstand. He told police that somehow the gun was in his bed and that he rolled over on the gun and, not knowing what it was, grabbed it. He unintentionally discharged the gun, shooting his wife in the stomach.
The woman was taken to the hospital in serious condition. Police said they are treating this as an accidental shooting and have not charged the man.

All 9 people injured in Empire State Building shooting were wounded by police

A police investigation has shown that all nine of the people injured in Friday's shooting outside of the Empire State Building were wounded by police gunfire.
The incident began Friday morning when 58-year-old Jeffrey Johnson waited outside his former place of employment and shot and killed his former manager, 41-year-old Steve Ercolino.
Johnson then calmly walked away, around the corner of the Empire State Building to Fifth Avenue. A construction worker who saw the shooting altered police. Two police officers confronted Johnson and when he pulled out a gun they opened fire, killing him.
One officer shot nine rounds while the other shot seven. In addition to killing Johsnon, nine bystanders were injured. Three of the victims suffered gunshot wounds and the other six were hit by fragments. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "It appears that all nine of the victims were struck either by fragments or by bullets fired by police."
Six of the wounded were treated and released from the hospital while three of the wounded remain hospitalized.
As Gail Collins writes in her Saturday column,"This isn't surprising; it's only in movies that people are good shots during a violent encounter." Collins continues:

"And these are people trained for this kind of crisis. The moral is that if a lunatic starts shooting, you will not be made safer if your fellow average citizens are carrying concealed weapons.

We are never going to have a sane national policy on guns until the gun advocates give up on the fantasy that the best protection against armed psychopaths bent on random violence is regular people with loaded pistols on their belts."

5-year-old girl unintentionally shoots father

A 5 1/2 year old girl was sleeping in her parents' bedroom in their home in the Rhodes Ranch development in Las Vegas, Nevada. At around 8 a.m. in the morning the little girl took a loaded, unlocked handgun from a nightstand and unintentionally shot her father in the arm.
The bullet lodged in this 38-year-old man's arm and he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. He is expected to recover.
Police said there were a number of other guns in the house that were locked in a gun safe but the handgun was out in the open.
"This was just a tragic accident that could have been a lot worse," said a police spokesperson.
The police are investigating the incident to determine if charges will be filed against the parents for leaving a gun where a child can gain access. The Department of Family Services has also opened an investigation.

Two men unintentionally shot when man takes gun off of gun rack

44-year-old Allen Lee King, of White County, Arkansas was taking a gun off of a gun rack in a bedroom when he unintentionally discharged the gun. The bullet went through the wall into the kitchen and hit two men sitting at the kitchen table.
The bullet struck Jacob Morris, 30, in the shoulder, exited through his neck and went on to hit James Mitchell, 32, in the chest. Both men were taken to the hospital and are expected to recover.
Police are still investigating the incident.

Transit cop unintentionally shoots man during arrest

An unidentified NYPD transit cop unintentionally discharged his weapon during an arrest in Harlem Tuesday night.
Police arrested 47-year-old Richard Pearson, a homeless man with an extensive police record. Pearson allegedly grabbed $40 off of an outside table at a Mexican restaurant.
Two transit police were trying to cuff Pearson when he started struggling. One officer went to put his service gun back in his holster to assist in the arrest when he unintentionally discharged the weapon.
The Sig Sauer 9mm handgun fired one round, hitting Pearson in the right calf.
"I thought my finger was off the trigger," the cop allegedly said. The 30-year-old officer has been with NYPD for five years and has been placed on administrative duties during the investigation.
Pearson was taken to the hospital for treatment and was later charged with petit larceny and resisting arrest.

Gun dealer unintentionally shoots himself while setting up for gun show

40-year-old Eric Kinsinger, a gun dealer from Fort Mill, South Carolina, was setting up his table at the Dixie Gun & Knife Classic show in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to police, Kinsinger unintentionally shot himself with a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun.
"He was taking the gun out to display it and pulled the trigger and it went off," said the local police captain.
Kinsinger was shot in the hand and transported to the local hospital for treatment for the non life-threatening injury.