LINCOLN, NE — A Texas county commissioner was sentenced to one year of probation Monday after accidentally shooting his grandson during a wedding.
Michael Gardner, 63, of Odessa, was initially charged with a felony count of second-degree assault, but he pleaded no contest to a reduced misdemeanor charge of child abuse.
The unfortunate incident occurred in September 2023 at an outdoor wedding near the small town of Denton in southeastern Nebraska.
Gardner pulled out a revolver to fire a blank round into the air to signal the start of the ceremony, but he accidentally fired it early and hit his then-12-year-old grandson in the shoulder.
The wound measured about 8 centimeters long and 4 centimeters wide, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.
The blank round was reportedly homemade by Gardner out of an empty shell, black gunpowder and hot glue.
Though the shooting was accidental, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Eric Miller said Gardner was reckless in pulling out a gun in front of a crowd of people the way he did.
Gardner was recently reelected as a county commissioner in Ector County.
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PermalinkReminds me of this childhood story out of actor and WWII war hero Audie Murphy's autobiography where he recounts shooting an older man in the backside with buckshot from a non-lethal distance, so as to sting him. I believe Audie was technically trespassing on the man's property, hunting game. Today we'd probably deem Murphy a child sociopath who committed several serious crimes. Strange how times change.
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PermalinkNever heard that story. Who knows what the truth behind that really is. I know a little about guns. I have heard of people getting shot in the backside with a shotgun shell loaded with rock salt, usually thieves or or someone trespassing. I've never used rock salt but my understanding is unless its extremely close then the salt will just penetrate the skin which becomes very painful but not deadly. Buckshot however is a different story. One shell usually consists of 9 pellets of about 30 cal., anyone of which can take your life. If you are in reach of buckshot then your life is in extreme danger.
The idiot in this story has no business with a gun. If you're making a blank shot, you remove any possible projectile from the cartridge. You sure as hell don't put wax in it then fire it off in a crowd let alone toward a child. The guy is an idiot.
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PermalinkWell, this incident also brings to mind all of those stories people tell along the lines of, "My pappy used to throw me through drywall when he was mad, and I turned out alright. HOOOAAHHHH!!"
Also, it may have been rock salt or something similar, but I recall being taken aback by Murphy's childhood "antics."
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PermalinkAgain, I haven't heard the stories so I don't know. I would think it could be researched easy enough. I've known a few of those good ol boys with the background you described. I've known some that went to prison, some that killed and some that died. They all thought they turned out alright until that last stupid act cost them or someone else everything.
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