A Texas county commissioner will spend one year on probation for accidentally shooting his grandson during a Nebraska wedding he was officiating.
Michael Gardner, 63, of Odessa, Texas, was sentenced Monday for misdemeanor child abuse in the September 2023 shooting. His grandson, then 12, survived the shoulder wound.
“It’s something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life,” said Gardner, who was recently reelected as a county commissioner in Ector County in Texas.
The shooting happened when Gardner pulled out a revolver, intending to fire a blank round into the air to signal the start of the outdoor ceremony near the small town of Denton in southeastern Nebraska. But as he was cocking the gun’s hammer, it fired, hitting the now 13-year-old boy.
“It’s something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life,” said Gardner
“I shot someone, so I’m the real victim here!” (In Nebraska, victim shoot you?)
The shooting happened when Gardner pulled out a revolver, intending to fire a blank round into the air to signal the start of the outdoor ceremony
No fucking reason to shoot a live gun into the air. This alone should be charged as reckless endangerment.
On the one hand, firing a blank in the air is harmless. On the other hand, how fucking close was he that the kid was as injured as he was from the blank?
Also no fucking reason to even have a weapon at a wedding ceremony.
Especially not for participants.
(Maybe a security guard might need to be armed, but even then what kind of a place are you holding the wedding at that it would be needed??)
Well based on the fact that he shot his grandson, it doesn’t seem to have been a blank after all.
But as he was cocking the gun’s hammer, it fired
Come on. It didn’t fire, he accidentally pulled the trigger while trying to pull back the hammer - I wouldn’t be surprised if he barely uses the fucking thing because it’s a security blankie to him and not a dangerous tool of destruction. I hate this passive language bullshit when it comes to things people obviously did.
And they’re taking away his guns because he’s clearly not responsible, right? Right?
Meanwhile on the same page, I see a thread about some kid charged with a felony for pointing a finger gun
