Katherine Sidnell
A grandfather accidentally shot his 12-year-old grandson during a wedding, whilst presiding over the ill-fated nuptials.
Michael Gardner had reportedly been trying to ‘gain everybody’s attention’ but instead of shouting, he chose to fire a blank round from a revolver.
Local police held a press conference over the incident – calling the 62-year-old’s act ‘not very smart’. Take a look below:
Recalling the incident to the press, Lancaster County’s Chief Deputy Ben Houchin revealed that the wedding had gotten off to a late start with the situation spiralling from there.
Taking place at the tranquil Hillside Events in Denton, the Nebraska nuptials had been delayed because someone ‘forgot the rings’.
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Eager to get everyone’s attention, Gardner loaded his Pietta 1860 snub nose revolver with a blank that contained black powder with glue.
As his grandson stood close by, he went to fire the gun into the air when it ‘slipped’ and hit the young boy in the left shoulder.
Houchin told the press conference: “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.”
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The 12-year-old was then taken to a local hospital before being transferred to an Omaha hospital for ‘further treatment’.
Though the child has non-life-threatening injuries, police were understandably less than impressed with the incident.
Chief Deputy Houchin said that was ‘kind of neglectful’ to fire blanks among the wedding attendees – even if Gardener hadn’t intended to hurt anyone.
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He said: “It’s just kind of neglectful to take a gun out that has blanks and fire it amongst people…Just another example that playing with firearms, no matter what, [even] if they’re blanks, bad things can certainly happen.”
Continuing, he added: “We do not believe Michael intended to hurt his grandchild. But the act was not very smart.”
However, Deputy Houchin did insist that no alcohol had been involved in the incident which happened on Saturday night (Sept 30).
Following the accidental shooting, Gardener reportedly turned himself in on Monday (Oct 2) and was arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse.
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It’s unclear whether the 62-year-old will be charged but the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office did reveal that they had the weapon, spent casing and ammunition from the incident.
“What the county attorney decides to charge him with is up to him,” Houchin added.