Teen Moves Shotgun To Watch TV - Shoots And Accidentally Kills Dad

[matcom]

<snip>

Greg Briggs had stepped out of his mobile home to join neighbors in the yard when he heard a bang. His porch light flickered out. He assumed the bulb had shattered.

Gregg Briggs stands next to the hole made by a shotgun blast in the wall of his mobile home off N.C. 87 in Gray’s Creek. His best friend, Don Gudeahn, was killed in the shooting.
But neighbor Don Gudeahn grabbed his chest and said, ''I've been shot.''

At first, Briggs and his next- door neighbor, Melissa Gibson, thought he was kidding. But he staggered to his Toyota Corolla and slumped over, smearing blood on the hood.

Witnesses and lawmen say Gudeahn's 15-year-old daughter, Dawn, had picked up Briggs' 12-gauge pump shotgun inside the mobile home and accidentally fired it. The buckshot tore a hole the size of an adult's fist through the wall next to the door and struck her father, who was standing outside about 10 feet away.

According to Gibson, Dawn was screaming, ''Oh, my God! I've shot my dad!''

Gibson, Briggs and a neighbor who is a nurse tried to save him with CPR.

When firefighters arrived, they told the group that Gudeahn was dead.

Gudeahn was 66 and lived at the same trailer park, Gray's Creek Mobile Estates off N.C. 87 in southern Cumberland County.

Briggs and Gudeahn had been friends for about nine years.

''He was easygoing,'' Briggs said. ''He was a good guy. If you needed something, he would help.''

That kindness led Gudeahn and his daughter to Briggs' mobile home Monday evening. They were returning from Dawn's karate class in Hope Mills when they saw a deputy sheriff at Briggs' house.

The house had been vandalized a few hours earlier by a burglar. When Briggs discovered the crime, he got his shotgun from his bedroom.

He said he laid the shotgun - with the safety on - on a recliner in the living room while he cleaned up. Gudeahn stayed to help, later stepping outside to talk with Gibson. Briggs said he needed a break, so he stepped outside, too.

Apparently, Dawn wanted to watch television in the recliner, so she picked up or moved the shotgun. That's when the shotgun fired once, Briggs said.

He said a gun novice could easily move the safety unknowingly.


http://www.fayettevillenc.com/printer.php?Story=7012459

[trotsky]

1. Guns keep us safer! n/t

[cheezus]

2. darwin award nominee?

At least this wasn't another story about gun carelessness leading to the death of a child.

[tk2kewl]

3. And the pukes don't subscribe to Darwin's theory, Ha!

[Dr.Phool]

4. I don't think you want to give someone CPR

with a chest wound. It'll just pump the blood out faster.

[Ready4Change]

6. If there's no pulse, lack of blood to the brain is worse, I think. n/t

[northzax]

5. wow, that's bad luck right there

and coming the day after he wouldn't let her watch teevee...

[NorthernSpy]

8. yeah, eh?

She had to accidentally take the shotgun off safety, and then accidentally point it at her father, and then accidentally pull the trigger. That's a lot of accidents.

Although he was supposedly standing on the other side of a wall when this happened.

:think:

[northzax]

9. also some crappy construction

in the mobile home. General rule of thumb, never have a loaded gun that can shoot through the exterior walls of your house. In a mobile home, get one of those low-power things the sky-marshalls use.

[NorthernSpy]

18. you're telling me!

I grew up in one of those things. It would have been tough indeed to have found anything that wouldn't have gone right through those shackly little walls. Even our humble .410 probably could have blown away an entire side with one blast.

:D

[MountainLaurel]

15. Your comment

Reminds me of "gun-cleaning" accidents back home in WV where some guy is just sitting in the living room cleaning his gun when he "accidentally" shoots his wife. Except usually he's got a history of domestic violence decades long. And in a couple cases, the wife was running screaming "help me!" at the time she was accidentally shot. But of course, because the husband was a war veteran and churchgoer, he's couldn't have meant to shoot her.

:eyes:

[NorthernSpy]

17. yeah, kinda like that...

Not that I'd want to leap to any conclusions in this particular case, of course.

[MountainLaurel]

19. Definitely not

Although from reading this case it does seem like an accident, though one mainly caused by stupidity on multiple levels.

[zbdent]

7. Stories like these are when I get tired of NRA members saying things like

"trigger locks are the first step to taking away all your guns!"

(Had to laugh - watched Hidalgo a couple of weeks ago - one of his lines was something to the effect that Colt made all men equal)

It doesn't take much skill to kill someone with a gun - when you hear about a four-year-old killing his grandpa with what he thought was a toy. Or something like this. Or the guy who wanted to take a picture of his dog holding a shotgun - and the dog accidentally pulls the trigger and shoots the guy in the leg (not qualifying himself for the Darwin award - since he didn't die).

[NorthernSpy]

10. trigger locks interfere...

... with a person's ability to use a firearm for home defense, because they delay getting the gun operational in a crisis situation.

And trigger locks pose no challenge whatsoever to someone who steals a gun, because the thief can later remove the device at his leisure (it's not that hard to do if you've got a bit of time).

[zbdent]

12. Yes, but a kid is unlikely to be able to just pick it up and blow his

baby brother away with it.

[NorthernSpy]

16. people who leave their guns within reach of toddlers...

... are already breaking the law by endangering their children. Why would they care about any new rules mandating trigger locks?

[redqueen]

11. Oh my that's sad.

She should have been better trained in how to handle that thing. :(

[DS1]

13. There's no burglars in sight, grab and load the shotgun anyway

:eyes:

[MrScorpio]

14. That's pretty tragic

Remember with guns, safety first