“We do not believe Michael intended to hurt his grandchild, but the act was not very smart,” Houchin said.

A Texas grandfather who was about to officiate a wedding in Nebraska errantly shot and wounded his own 12-year-old grandson when he tried to fire a gun in the air to get the attention of guests Saturday, according to authorities.

Odessa, Texas resident Michael Gardner, 62, is facing legal trouble after the Pietta 1860 snub nose revolver went off around 5 p.m. and accidentally struck the young boy in the shoulder at Hillside Events, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Ben Houchin said during a press conference Monday.

The gun fired a blank round that had black powder in the casing that was glued together, the sheriff’s official said.

Before the attention-catching shot, guests were scattered around the Denton, Nebraska venue because the nuptials started late after someone forgot the wedding rings, Houchin explained.

“When he decided to cock back the hammer of this revolver it slipped and it shot his grandson in the left shoulder, causing an injury,” Houchin said, later adding. “What we believe is the glue injured the child.”

The injury was non-life threatening, though the boy still required hospitalization.

“We do not believe Michael intended to hurt his grandchild, but the act was not very smart,” Houchin said.

Gardner was still slapped with a child abuse charge because of the carelessness and the injury to the youngster, the chief deputy said. He surrendered to authorities Monday.

“It’s just kind of neglectful to take a gun out that has blanks and fire it amongst people,” he said.

  • @shalafiEnglish
    -9•1 year ago

    That’s nothing like what most people would gather from the headline. None the less, you are responsible for following the rules, even with a non-lethal charge.

    And those wads are no joke! I’ve reloaded shotgun shells with homemade BP and stuck the wad in an old pallet from 20’.

    Weirdly enough, this is about the only situation I can imagine where it’s perfectly OK to shoot in the air. But that was not where the gun was pointed, now was it?

    • ZeroCoolOPEnglish
      12•1 year ago

      Weirdly enough, this is about the only situation I can imagine where it’s perfectly OK to shoot in the air.

      Spoken like a genuine “responsible gun owner.”

      • @shalafiEnglish
        0•1 year ago

        Ever shot off fireworks? Ya know, those black powder driven rockets that leave bits of plastic falling back to Earth? Yeah, same thing.

      • @shalafiEnglish
        -1•1 year ago

        Spoken like someone with no experience in the subject at hand.

      • @shalafiEnglish
        0•1 year ago

        Ever shot off fireworks? Ya know, those black powder driven rockets that leave bits of plastic falling back to Earth? Yeah, same exact thing.