People whom you know to have been shot

[jberryhill]

When I was about 12, I was with a group of friends at one of their houses and their parents were out. The kid who lived there took us to his parent's bedroom to show us the loaded revolver his dad kept in the night stand. One of the other kids walked into the room, picked it up and pointed it directly at my head, until the other kids shouted "It's loaded" and he dropped it in shock. I was pretty much frozen where I stood.

That was my first encounter with a loaded weapon.

So, I got to thinking, "Do I know anyone who ever shot one of those 'bad guys'?"

Well, let's see. My best friend's cousin, who, at 14, killed himself with the shotgun he got for Christmas doesn't count. Neither does the kid in my class, whose father was a law enforcement officer, count. He wasn't all that much of a 'good guy' but he too shot himself in the head, with one of his father's weapons.

A few years ago a partner in a Philadelphia law firm with whom my firm was consulting on a matter, had to take some time away from the case, since he'd shot himself in the leg with a pistol.

My former next door neighbor became depressed over a variety if things in her life and shot herself in the head. And more recently, I had lost contact with a client of mine, and ended up having to hire a PI to find out, according to the police and coroner reports, that he had shot himself in the head too.

So, let's see, my "personal life body count" is "4 dead, 1 wounded, 0 bad guys".

This is just off the top of my head. My father, of course, was awarded a medal for having shot several people dead. But after service during two wars, he never picked up a weapon again in his life.

So, apart from wartime, how many gun deaths have touched your life?

[NYC_SKP]

1. My friend who served in Desert Storm and was assigned to bury bodies with a bulldozer blade was shot

And, he was the shooter.

I don't blame the gun, I blame the war and the lies, and the things our country makes men and women do in the name of exceptionalism and world power.

Thus, he was a statistic: one of 18 Veterans who successfully commit suicide every single day.

[broiles]

2. Years ago my next door neighbor shot his penis off.

He was having marital problems. I don't think that helped with his marriage.

[Walk away]

8. Maybe it did!

[marybourg]

3. None. But then, at 70, I've lived

most of my life in a time and in a place, the east coast, when guns were not a part of everyday life.

[Mojorabbit]

4. A good friend of mine

was shot in his own home by a burglar
The mother of a friend shot her abusive husband. The courts let her off.

[yellerpup]

5. Quite a few in the first part of my life.

Upon reflection it was probably because everyone I knew had guns from hunting to target to protection. I've been at the point of a gun several times myself, my ex-husband was murdered with a handgun, my friends father was shot before her eyes. Two cousins committed suicide with guns. For the past 34 years, I've lived in a state that discourages handgun ownership and does not allow concealed (except by certified individuals) or open carry at all (except for the police). While I was threatened regularly in my rural state, I have been threatened only once in NYC.

[RebelOne]

6. Ray, the brother of my sister's husband.

He was taking a co-worker home when the co-worker asked him to stop at a cleaners so he could pick up some clothes. While Ray was waiting in his van, two black guys held him up. They took his wallet and then shot him with a rifle. He died in the hospital a couple of days later. Ray was only 19.

[Walk away]

7. My best friends son was given a gun for Christmas...

His Father (who was long divorced from my friend) gave it to him when he visited on Christmas. My friend was shocked and totally against the present. She was determined to get rid of it as soon as her ex left town to avoid arguments. Two weeks after Christmas this 18 year old accidentally shot and killed his best friend while showing him the gun. The boy he killed was the only son of a family who had sacrificed to send their exceptional son to to prep school and he was on his way to Princeton with early admissions and scholastic scholarships. My friend's son planned to accompany him to the same school. It seemed to me that everyone's life was destroyed. It shattered the lives of everyone who survived. You can hardly find any evidence of it on the internet because they had to hire a company that scrubs as much of it as possible. There are no testimonials on line, no Facebook pages of the people involved, only the original local newspaper reports.

My neighbor down the block killed his wife and held his son and daughter hostage at their home in N.J.. He lived in Pennsylvania and brought his arsenal with him. I have since moved.

Thirty years ago I saw a man have his head blown to bits in Tony's TV Bar in Barranquilla Colombia. People were supposed to check their guns at the door but somebody decided to dine with his.

[etherealtruth]

9. Five, that I can quickly think of

The first was when I was a young child, a neighbor committed suicide

The second: a neighbor was "accidentally shot while cleaning his gun" ...? (again as a child)

The third, a teenager in the neighborhood was killed while in a sketchy part of the city (reportedly drug related), again I was a child

Four: My cousin's husband was killed during an armed robbery at the auto parts store he managed.

Five: A nurse I worked with was shot by a deranged healthcare administrator (after she left the hospital I was working at).

On edit: Upon reflection I honestly did not know (consciously) that gun violence had played this prominent of a role in my life until I started writing.

I need to add that I have always lived in "typical" middle class to UMC suburban areas (as opposed to rural "hunting" areas or crime ravaged inner city areas).

I also need to add that a cousin of sorts (my uncles foster child he was a teenager when he came to live with my uncle) shot and killed a repo guy while he was repo'ing his car. When this occurred the guy was in his late 40s and had never shown symptoms of great violence ... yet, he had a gun and killed another human being.

[hack89]

10. Very few. Alcohol is the killer in my life story. nt

[Arkansas Granny]

11. A man I knew was carrying a small handgun in his pants pocket.

He went to the bathroom, dropped his drawers,the gun went off, striking him in the groin. He bled out on the bathroom floor before the ambulance arrived. He left a wife and three children. He was experienced at handling firearms.

[SWTORFanatic]

12. zero. none. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Too many to count.

Mostly former students. A friend of mine who taught 2nd grade for 35 years had two former students who had been in the same class commit murder in the same week. One was a car jacking, the other a drug deal gone bad. Both involved guns. They were 22 years old and are both in prison for the rest of their lives. They'd be about 35 now.

[salin]

60. same here... (posted far below.)

I believe we both have spent years in urban education.

I counted 15 instances off the top of my head (including two cases in which former students were the perpetrators.) Both of those students would be between 35 and 40 by now.

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. I'll bet you catch yourself waiting to hear the name of the perp or the victim when there's a murder

or other crime to see if you recognize them. Sad, isn't it?

[salin]

64. Sadly, yes. I have only been in my current city for the past decade

so the age range is still somewhat limited (per the students aren't much more than 23.)

It is a horrendous reality (to listen/read for the name of both the perps and victims of such crimes... to learn if it touches your educational family.) It is an even more horrendous reality for these children whose path may cross so many violent losses/experiences.

Thanks for writing this. It is something I live (reading/listening to news holding one's breath and hoping that neither the victim (and his/her family), nor the perp is a former student. Tens of thousands of us live with this. We just don't often speak about it - as to embrace it would intrude in our daily work. One can't be effective if one is eternally focused upon whether or not some of the students one is currently working with to try to open up future opportunities will even live long enough to realize those opportunities.

Peace be with you.

salin

[milestogo]

14. When I was a kid I remember a 15 year old shooting himself in the head

with his fathers gun. He had gotten in some trouble for dropping rocks on cars from an overpass. His parents were angry. And to him it seemed like the end of the world. Big trouble and hard for a teenager to put in perspective.

But it wasn't worth killing himself over. If his parents hadn't had a gun in the home he might still be here today. He was basically a good kid and it was a tragedy that he took his life over something that deserved punishment but hadn;t actually harmed anyone.

[Tsiyu]

15. Two suicides by gun

that I knew personally.

The majority of shooting victims I dealt with were in ERs around Atlanta, so I didn't know them personally.

[OldDem2012]

16. I basically stopped counting in 1968 after my former high school classmate was killed in Vietnam...

....one was enough, but there have been many more. Quite a few of the Marines I served with from 1978-1981, had been wounded by small arms fire in Vietnam.

[shanti]

17. same thread here:

several days ago...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1994517

[werknotgoin2takeit]

18. Lukily not too many.

But the one I have is bad enough. My beautiful bright 21 year old cousin suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of his step-father and had untreated manic depression. He joined the military to escape. Everyone who knew him knew it was a mistake as he did not have the temperament of a soldier. In the end, he went AWOL and killed himself with a shotgun alone and far away from those who loved him and could of helped him. That was over 20 years ago and we still miss him every day.

[etherealtruth]

20. I am so sorry

[werknotgoin2takeit]

31. Thank You

[Warpy]

19. To tell the truth, the one death that affected me most

was a beating death. However, my own count is 2 dead, 6 wounded, 0 bad guys, unless you count the soon to be ex husband who blew himself away after shooting one of my best friends dead.

[Flabbergasted]

21. The housemate of a friend shot him in the leg near groin,

Accident of course. My friend put the gun on the table, it was in his pocket, during wrestling, for "safety." His housemate picked it up and shot him.

[2naSalit]

22. Too many to count...

can't remember all and have tried to put that out of my mind so that I don't remember. But I will admit that there have been a few times in my life where I considered putting an end to my life, but I never considered using a gun.

I have had guns held to my head and pointed at me more than a couple times, it makes you think real hard during and after the fact... if you have any sense.

And I've lost more than a few friends and acquaintances during wars.

Wish that all guns and all war machines would just stop working somehow... then it wouldn't matter who had any if none of them worked.

[etherealtruth]

23. I am so sorry that you have gone through this

[2naSalit]

27. Thank you..

I think a lot more of us go through periods of trial that bring up such considerations as taking their own lives, something always stopped me. For those who have gone by way of guns, I miss some of them but that's what happens in a gun culture... that's the way I have to rationalize these events to get beyond the initial emotions.

As far as my own nearly being shot, see remark above.

[Nay]

24. Two.

A relative who was attempting to fix a friend's handgun accidentally shot himself. He is OK.

A neighbor boy and his best friend, while sitting in the cab of his uncle's truck, found a loaded handgun in the glove box. The boy handled it, it went off, killing his best friend instantly.

[Sherman A1]

25. Let me think

Co-worker a few years back with a shotgun.
Co-worker's husband this year with a gun.
Co-worker's BIL this year with a handgun.
3 of Wife's cousins over the last 10 years with guns (depression seems to run in that family).

[libdem4life]

26. I am Social Security age, and can honestly say no one I have known. or someone I knew

who mentioned it..state-side, in a non-war setting, that is. Car accidents, 3 or 4. My son has never mentioned one either. Interesting post.l

[yardwork]

28. The sister of a friend who was murdered by a witness called to make a deposition.

The man showed up at the deposition with a gun - I don't know what kind - and murdered everybody in the room, including my friend's sister, who was one of the attorneys present. It was a routine deposition and the murderer was not a defendant, just a witness.

And the suicide of a good friend who shot himself with a high-powered rifle, one of many in his arsenal. He was prepared for the bad guys to come over the hills. The bad guys never came, but he's gone.

[Deep13]

29. Mr. Frazier, Mr. Hood, Mr. Wieder, Ms. Allen

Mr. Frazier was a victim of a murder-suicide. He was a divorce lawyer in MA. He represented the wife in a routine, uncontested case. The husband killed Frasier and the wife, then himself.

Ms. Allen was murdered, the case never solved.

Mr. Hood was a very sick man who decided to end the constant suffering.

Mr. Wieder was also a suicide, leaving a wife and minor son behind. We still don't know what he was thinking.

Sgt. Dumais shot himself in the foot and lived.

I did not know her, but my mother's Aunt Janice was murdered by her husband. She knew he was going to do it, but the police would not protect her.

I also know people who have died in traffic accidents or died prematurely due to disease.

[SirRevolutionary]

30. Thanks for this jberryhill, very poignant example of how we all know guns too well

My uncle was a happy man, always laughing, right-wing southern gentleman, hunter, gun lover, you name it. I only met him twice or so, but one thing that struck me was how happy he always was. A few years passed and I heard he had used one of his shotguns to blow his head off in the car in his garage, leaving the mess for his wife and endless questions.

I have many cops in my family who have been shot at, haven't heard that any actually got hit. I know they've had many cop friends who have been shot and killed while on duty. A simple traffic stop ends in death far too often.

A guy who lived down the road from me blew his head off with a shotgun in his living room and every time we'd drive by their house for months, you could see the ceiling hole with spray all over.

When I was a teen, the older "cooler" kids used to go into the woods down the road and play ""BB gun wars". Truly brilliant, the rule was no one could aim above the neck. Well, that didn't work out so well and one boy I knew got hit in the eye, he's now blind in one eye for the rest of his life.

Another close call was with the brother of an ex girlfriend of mine. Her little brother (15 at the time) found his cop father's loaded pistol laying on the piano, pointed it at his brother and I ended up beating the hell out of him for it right in front of his mom. When his dad came home, he got his hide tanned far worse.

[LWolf]

32. 1 brother, 0 bad guys. nt

[Adsos Letter]

33. 1 dead, 1 wounded

When I was a kid, two friends of mine (one 14 and the other 16) were messing around with their dad's .30/.30 deer rifle; one shot the other in the stomach, killing him.

Just this year a guy I grew up with shot himself in the ankle with a .357 pistol:

The victim told Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies that he was outside when he saw a rattlesnake in his yard. He retrieved a .357 loaded with bird shot in an attempt to kill the snake, but he was unable to locate the rattler.

The victim said he decided to continue to look around his yard for the snake. A short time later, he turned to walk inside….and he saw the snake slither behind his leg. The victim said he then somehow tripped and landed with the snake underneath his right leg, trapping it. He told deputies he used his hands with the gun and tried to push the snake away.

During the struggle with the snake, he accidentally discharged the firearm, hitting himself in the back of the leg near the ankle.

http://www.northescambia.com/2012/06/snakeone-injured-in-accidental-shooting-in-molino

I haven't talked to Mike in a couple years. I need to call him and hear this one first-hand.

[99Forever]

34. Mike Donnelly...

... age 13 or 14, a 9th grade friend of mine at Nathan Hale Jr High in Omaha, Nebr. (in 1968, if I remember correctly) shot and killed by an accidental shotgun blast when and some friends were "playing with dad's unloaded gun."

Mike Hammers, my best friend and workmate at Triland Foods in Sgt Bluffs, Ia., also shot and killed by another "accidental shotgun blast" when a gunfreak buddy aimed an "unloaded 12 gauge" at him and "jokingly" pulled the trigger. Early 1990s.

There are more, but that bummed me out enough for one day.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. The husband of a former teaching colleague was one of several physics professors

at the University of Iowa who was shot and killed by a disgruntled graduate student.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. My father, one guy I knew in the Marines, several postal workers who shot themselves.

And, a number of marine friends killed in Vietnam (maybe not by gunshot in every case) while defending LBJ's "tough on Communism" creds.

[Dustlawyer]

37. My best friend shot and killed himself.

He was found 2 months later. It was over a girl. He may have gotten past that typical heartbreak if his father's gun was not around.

[GreenPartyVoter]

50. The exact reason why I don't keep my late father's guns in my home.

[heaven05]

38. sad

the grief guns bring into the mix.

[Jack Rabbit]

39. My cousin's son, David, was murdered

David and his girlfriend were helping a friend move. The "friend" shot them both with a rifle. David died instantly, the young lady was wounded and was able to flee.

David hung with the wrong crowd. There may have been drugs involved.

[judesedit]

40. 2 with depression, one while I was sleeping, 1 was my sister-in-law's 18-yr old nephew. Then 2 my

son's natural father killed over drugs and spent the rest of his life in jail for. 1 friend in his place of business by a drunk, unruly customer. That's off the top of my head. Not pleasant to think about so that's enough for me right now. If my friend had been in a little different frame of mind, he could have easily taken me with him. I was sleeping in the next room. He was nice and spared me.

[judesedit]

41. One time I was driving down the road broad daylight when a carful of young guys pulled up. One had

a gun and pointed it straight at me. I was driving so couldn't do anything but say to myself "I might die right now"

[kcass1954]

42. My sister-in-law was murdered in Miami in 1996.

She was shot in the face by her pimp in an argument over money.

She chose a life of drugs and prostitution, and no one expected her to live a long life. But she didn't deserve to die the way she did.

I miss her, and so does my son. When she was sober, she was one of the funniest people I ever knew.

[Irishonly]

43. Several

When I was a child living in Des Moines, a neighbor girl was murdered. The case is still unsolved. She was well liked and the police could never figure out a motive for the killing.

I have had two student commit suicide both with guns. Another is serving the rest of his life in prison after accidentally shooting his best friend.

A good friend was murdered and another very critically wounded when a jealous boyfriend came shooting into a vocational school. My friend had just had a baby about a year before her death.

My bil committed suicide.

[hunter]

44. Too many, too close.

I don't talk about it much. Not here.

One gun story that didn't deeply touch my life: A neighbor of ours shot her boyfriend in the leg during an argument. They don't live there anymore. It freaked out the neighbor across the street so much he put up a surveillance camera to watch that house in case the owner rented it to other "unstable" people. Most of the people who have lived there have been nice, even the woman who shot her boyfriend. It's too bad the gun she had for "protection" screwed up her life like that.

I've never heard a first hand story of someone shooting "bad guys" who wasn't police or military.

In my neighborhood people break into houses and steal guns, even entire gun safes, when the owner isn't home. We've got a bad gang problem in our city and those kids are not stupid except when they are shooting each other.

[graywarrior]

45. A bunch

[alfredo]

46. I figure about 15 friends have died by the gun.

Many were friends in Detroit during the early 70's.

A lot of small time pot dealers were eliminated after operation intercept. That doubled the price of pot, making it profitable for organized crime. Hard drugs were for the mob, pot was for privateers until Nixon handed the pot trade to the mob. Two friends were clearly assassinated. One was burned after he was tied up and shot. they wanted to make sure I guess. The other was shot at a stop light.

Ones I didn't add to the list were ones I heard were dead, but no cause give. Three were small time hustlers, one of them had a contract put out on him around the time I left town.

I'm glad I got out of Detroit and that life.

[cpwm17]

47. My brother's best friend accidentally shot and killed himself

My best friend at the time was at the McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro section of San Diego, California, on July 18, 1984. Fortunately he was working in the back and hid in a closet. Twenty were murdered, making it the worst such massacre at the time. Another acquaintance was shot in the arm, but he escaped out the front door of the McDonald's and dove over a wall.

My niece's friends were at the Aurora Colorado massacre, and one lost a leg. She had other things to do so she fortunately wasn't there.

[Fla Dem]

48. A woman I worked with, nicest girl; husband angry drunk; shot her.

Does JFK and RFK count. Grew up with them, metaphorically; when they were shot, felt like someone in my family. And a couple of high school classmates in Vietnam.

[GreenPartyVoter]

49. One, my uncle. May there never be another gun death in my life or my family.

[beveeheart]

51. At least 6 people have died from gunshots that I knew

My cousin's estranged husband shot her and then himself in the parking lot of the bank where she worked. Also had 2 students kill themselves. A close friend's son was shot in the back over a drug deal while he was urinating in a field. I know there are others, but just can't recall details right now.

Also a friend's husband killed himself early one Sunday morning within a year after they'd married.

[louis-t]

52. One murder/suicide of school chum in 1970..

parents were divorcing, mother shot the kids and herself.

Very good friend who had a lot going for him suddenly got depressed (over a woman), cut his long hair off and laid it on the bed, then shot himself in 1998.

An 'almost' involving my uncle and father in 1962. My father kept a shotgun in the house for hunting. My uncle came over after work at 2 in the morning. My mother, forgetting she had told my uncle he could sleep on the couch if he was too tired to drive home, woke my father and told him someone was in the house. My father nearly shot his own brother. My father got rid of the gun after that.

No one I know has ever stopped a bad guy with a gun.

[booley]

53. three

One was the boyfriend of a friend in high school.

Suicide.

Another was a cop who used to come over tot he 7-11 where I worked a lot.

Killed by her own gun by someone else.

The last was a guy I knew all the way back to grade school and into college.

He had broken a fight between a couple so the boy friend went home, got his gun, and came ot back to shoot my friend two times in the neck.

[dooner]

54. One, my brother

was shot in the head in an unsolved murder. We assume it was probably a drug deal gone bad.

[kag]

55. My community still grieves for Brian Mahon

Brian was the general manager of a local ski resort. His wife Jill was (and is) a teacher at the elementary school, and taught most of the kids in our little town at one point or another. They have two daughters, the younger of whom was in the same grade as my son.

A few years ago, during the week between Christmas and New Years, one of the employees of the resort arrived at work with a gun. By all reports he was somewhat crazed, and entered the locker room where all of the lift workers and others were getting ready to head out onto the mountain. He was rambling about religion, and waving the gun around, pointing it at all of the others, eventually firing one shot into the ceiling.

Brian heard that shot, and entered the room asking what was going on. The guy pointed the gun at Brian, and asked something like "Do you believe it God?" or "What church do you go to?" or something like that. Brian responded "I'm Catholic." The guy fired one shot into Brian's chest, killing him almost instantly. The shooter then ran out the door, got into his car, and sped away.

John Seifert, a Sherriff's officer and former local cop who lives down the street from me, got the report from dispatch (911 had been called), and sped toward the resort. He was almost there when he saw a car matching the description from the report speeding in the other direction, he quickly turned around and followed it, lights and sirens blaring. At an intersection, the shooter stopped and got out of his car. John stopped, took cover behind his car door, and yelled the appropriate commands to the guy, who immediately began firing in John's direction.

Others driving toward and near the scene, stopped and ducked behind or inside of their cars.

John Seifert, serendipitously, is an expert with firearms, and teaches courses within the department on the use, handling, and safe storage of guns. Several shots were exchanged between John and Brian's murderer. There were conflicting reports about how the fire fight ended. One maintained that one of John's bullets killed the guy. Another said that the guy turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head. I never learned which report was true, but ultimately, the guy died, and John suffered a minor wound from a bullet that grazed his ear.

John was hailed as a hero by most of our town, myself included. I truly believe that he saved lives, that the guy who killed Brian would have killed others, or at least attempted to.

This all happened in 2008. Jill and her daughters still live here, and Brian is still remembered and loved. He was killed with a semi automatic rifle with a high-capacity clip. I don't know if it was obtained legally or not.

It is possible that you read about this shooting in the paper, especially if you live anywhere near Boulder, Colorado.

[movingviolation]

56. My uncle was shot to death in a bar.

His dad, my grandpa, committed suicide, shot himself in the head. I've never owned a gun and never will

[tavernier]

57. Several, but I especially remember

a neighbor who was in a gun shop looking at an antique gun and because antique guns are never loaded (yeah, right), it went off and the bullet went through his stomach. He was a very sick puppy for an awfully long time.

[Blue_In_AK]

58. I've answered this question before.

My brother was killed in a hunting accident when he was 15 bad I was 7. Friends have died...suicides, bad drug deals. My first husband was murdered after we split up, but I'm not sure if it was gun-related, although probably. Friends and cousin in Vietnam.

[salin]

59. When I worked with urban youth in Detroit in the 90s...

2 former youth I worked with, 2 other youth I worked with became murderers, 3 other youth I worked with had family members murdered all by guns.

When I was in grad school, while it wasn't someone I knew, a man was shot to death across the street from where I lived.

In recent years I have lost two former students to murder by gun, and have worked with at least 4 youths whose family members have been shot to death.

Off the top of my head that is 15 direct or indirect encounters with domestic gun violence.

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. Murder is such an everyday thing for urban kids.

It's really heart breaking.

[salin]

63. earth-shatteringly, so.

Most people outside of the urban cores, have no idea how close such violence strikes to many urban families.

The first day after the horrible events in Newtown, one of the older students that I work with pondered: why are we only talking about *this* incident? Why aren't we (national news) talking about how frequently people are killed by guns?

Another student chimed in about a pair of murders that happened within the past couple of weeks, within several blocks from where we sat as we spoke.

I sadly recalled a day when I commuted from one work site to another in Detroit - at noon - and heard reports of 3 shootings within, or outside but on the grounds of Detroit schools all occurring within a 4 hour span. Heard about it on the local news at noon. Not a word in the national news.

[easttexaslefty]

65. Probably around 100.

I belong to the largest Internet survivor support group (for parents) in the U.S.
Well, actually worldwide. At least 100 that regularly post lost their child suicide by gun. Including age 8, yes 8, to 50.
In our group gun by suicide is the most common.

[Tom Ripley]

66. 3 dead (suicide), 2 wounded (attack/failed suicide attempt), 0 bad guys

[neverforget]

67. Grandfather to suicide (shotgun), friend to suicide (handgun), friend murdered (shotgun)

[Nikia]

68. Growing up, I was told that my grandfather's brother died of cancer

It was only when I was older that I found out that he shot himself. While it is true that he had cancer at the time, he died from suicide. I suppose that he probably wouldn't have killed himself if he were healthy though.
More recently, a couple of years ago, a coworker shot himself. On a Friday, he went to the park and shot himself instead of coming into work. He was very stressed at work and did have some health problems. That event really affected my attitude towards working there. I'm not there anymore, but it still bothers me.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

69. A friend of mine shot himself while playing Russian roulette.

[Care Acutely]

70. My best friend at 15 was shot in the head by her boyfriend. Took her 3 days to die.

Last edited Thu Dec 27, 2012, 03:24 AM - Edit history (3)

My last memory of her is the sight of her laying in her hospital bed hooked up to a vent, her purple and yellow face swollen beyond all recognition. Her murderer found Jesus in prison and was released in less than 4 years. That's when I learned with irrefutable certainty that the life of a 15 year-old poor female isn't worth very much.

A classmate in high school shot herself in the abdomen when she found out she was pregnant, leaving her with a withered leg and the need to use a cane for the rest of her life. Oh, and of course, no uterus.

One night I struck up a conversation on Facebook with a friend I went to school with from kindergarten all the way to high school graduation. We had gone to each others birthday parties since we were tiny kids. He seemed a little wistful for the old days but nothing that threw up alarm bells. He shot himself in the head later that night on his farm.

My cousin. He came home from the war and shot himself in the head with a gun he bought at a gun show, sitting under his favorite tree on my uncles farm. The animals and the bugs had got to him a little bit by the time my uncle and his brother found him the next day.

My ex-husband's uncle was shot in the head in the desert of northern Mexico.

Oh - and me. When I was in the 3rd grade my neighbor started playing with a bullet in the alley. She was banging on it with a rock. It passed through my left flank without hitting anything other than a little bit of muscle, baby fat and skin. I didn't even feel it at first and I was mostly terrified because the terrible noise left me unable to hear anything except a relentless high roar. Then I looked at the neighbor and she appeared to be screaming too, and she was looking at my stomach. I looked down and saw blood running down my leg. Being a little kid, I was so scared I would get in trouble that I tried to clean it up and hide it. It didn't take mom long to notice I had been crying, could barely hear anything and I was holding wads of paper towels under my shirt.

Then there was the time I was gathering asparagus in the woods by the river and got mistaken for game of some type, despite the fact that I was wearing a purple shirt. I'm able to type all this because the asshole "sportsmen" were apparently drunk and poor shooters.

4 dead, 2 wounded, 0 bad guys

Edited to add two stories and the fact that I"m not even going to include the many, many, many examples from work.

[PeaceNikki]

71. Off the top of my head...

A good friend of mine was shot by a cop. She's ok now.

A friend of my son's father shot himself in the face in a failed suicide attempt that disfigured him and wrecked his child.

A former co-worker's father murdered her mother and then himself.

A good friend's father was a cab driver murdered with a gun on the job.


2 wounded, 3 dead, 0 bad guys.

[OmahaBlueDog]

72. I've lost two people in my life to gun violence

I lost a co-worker in a murder/suicide lovers quarrel

I also lost someone very close to me in a robbery. As I've stated here before, part of the irony there is that the individual was a firearms enthusiast.

[Ikonoklast]

73. I posted this thread back in July about my great uncle and his family....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021002574

Uncle Bob survived the North African Campaign and being wounded at Anzio, but not the gun owned by a neighbor.

[joshcryer]

74. I've been shot at and nearly pistol whipped.

Don't know anyone who was shot though. I met someone who got killed later on by an IED but we weren't friends or knew each other...

edit: wait, I just now remembered. There was this Burger King I used to frequent in New Orleans and the manager was shot by one of the employees... execution style... damn, wish I didn't remember that now...

[Fumesucker]

75. Philip Young, a friend shot himself in the belly with a .22 rifle while "cleaning" it, he survived

A friend's brother who I no longer remember their name was shot in the chest by another boy while they were playing with dad's .45, he survived too amazingly enough.

Hank van Apeldorn, shot outside a nightclub he was getting ready to go into to review a band for his local music show on the radio. After being shot in the heart with .22 he actually got out of the car and chased his shooter down the street for a bit, the trauma center managed to save his life too after pumping a couple of gallons of blood into him.

Then there's the deer hunting relative who fell out of his deer stand when he went to sleep, he broke his neck and died of pneumonia a couple of years later after being a quadriplegic since the accident.

[fadedrose]

76. About age 12, a young man, about 14, killed himself with a gun

He lived about 3 blocks away. Family ran numbers, was reputed to have connections.

Very very sad. It wasn't suicide, he was cleaning it or playing with it and it was an accident. Family was brokenhearted... It was just a regular handgun I think, nothing fancy. This was 60 years ago.

His name was Anthony.

[geckosfeet]

77. A childhood friend of mine's father committed suicide with a shotgun.

In their house.

He was a very heavy drinker. And by all accounts family dynamics were pretty rough.

Oh. And I had a park ranger point a pistol at me. That was not fun.

Also, a friend of mine was robbed at gunpoint. He was in the air force overseas at the time. The thieves were army people and were quickly caught.

[baldguy]

78. Similar.

When I was a kid, some asshole shot my dog. He survived - what was probably a .22 went right through his butt. Lots of blood for such a small hole...

When I was in high school, during those 4 yrs 10 of my classmates died, out of a class of 280. 3 where from car accidents. 2 hanged themselves. And 5 were from guns, 4 were suicides and 1 was murdered - shot by his stepfather.

One of the gun suicides was a guy I'd known since the 7th grade. We had the same first name and the same first 3 letters of our last name. He sat next to me in homeroom for 6 yrs. We were in the same scout troop, the same football team, we had math & history together.... And one day he wasn't there.

Again - no bad guys.

[thucythucy]

79. My partner's grandfather

was shot in the back by a "hunter" who mistook him for a deer.

The lover of a friend was shot through her windshield, bled to death before the EMTs could get to her.

Two acqaintances (lover of one good friend, brother of another): suicide by handgun.

Two women I know raped at gunpoint.

High school classmate: "suicide by cop."

And no, not one single "bad guy" taken down.

[SummerSnow]

80. I know about 11 people who have shot...

I grew up in a rough neighborhood

[cthulu2016]

81. Only suicides for me

3 gun suicides.

[riverbendviewgal]

82. two

My boyfriend's 12 year old niece. Was playing in her basement and tripped and shot herself dead.
My friend's 26 year old daughter was accidental shot and killed while hunting in Texas.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

83. Several

A friend I grew up with murdered by his gun-nut father in law. The FIL showed up at their house in the middle of the night and shot Marc in the chest 4 times. He apparently planned on kidnapping his daughter and grandkids - handcuffs in the car as well as several guns and hundreds of rounds. Rented a car for the crime and told his friends he was in Florida. Dispute over religion and distancing the kids from the abusive grandfather was the motivation.

Another friend I grew up with killed himself with a rifle a couple weeks ago. When looking online for the funeral/obit information, I ran across the foreclosure case.

Another kid I grew up with - shot dead by a dropped .22 rifle. Accidental. His father killed himself several years later. Gunshot to the head.

Two high school friends. Suicide with "family" guns. One was a close friend.

[Generic Brad]

84. My old next door neighbor

Him and his wife had been drinking. They had a fight because he had danced with another woman. She told him she would like to make it so that he never danced with another woman again. He suggested she shoot his leg off. She said she did not know how to use a gun. So he got his semi-automatic, loaded it, showed her how to use and where to aim if she wanted to make it so he never danced again. She followed his advice perfectly and shot his leg off.

[Thor_MN]

85. None, unless you count the BIL of my GreatGrandfather via his first wife.

My GGM was his second wife, his BIL used a shotgun 40 years before I was born. He wasn't found for 2 months, he went out into a forested area to end his life.

[Dems to Win]

86. I might have the only kinda-funny story to add to this thread

My mom's sister, my aunt, is one of the numerous black sheep in my family.

Auntie and her husband, then parents of 3 young children, got into a drunken argument one night and she shot him in the stomach. They divorced after that, and he took the kids. I never knew these cousins as I was growing up.

Auntie never had trouble finding a new man, but they weren't exactly winners. Auntie, with her third husband, got into a fight in a bar and her then-husband shot a man dead. (clearly, that's not funny, don't get me wrong) He's still in prison; she spent a few years in prison, too, but then was released.

About 30 years after her first divorce, their son was in prison in a distant state, and was assaulted in prison. Auntie and her first hubby drove to visit their son in the prison hospital, and on that drive, they agreed that they were soulmates and loved each other and should have never split up. So, they re-married.

Auntie's first husband and seventh husband were the same guy -- the guy she shot in the stomach. He lived for a few years after they remarried, then he died of alcohol & natural causes.

She's already used up and discarded (divorced) husband number eight.