Tragedy in Fresno - Sgt shot by Detective

[jdcaples]

This has been bothering me for quite a few days and I hope this posting is therapeutic for me at least, and at best a story to be told during any firearms safety discussion, especially in a class. Maybe if you have kids and firearms, this would make for a good cautionary truth.

In short, a Fresno County detective shot a Fresno County Sargent in building used by the Sheriff’s office for official law enforcement business.

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article111892927.html

I do not understand how this could have happened.

Yes, I know that there have been very few details published. I only have my personal experiences to compare against this tragedy.

I was taught safe weapons-handling.

If I agree to let someone check out my side arm, I say, “Sure, just give me a minute.”


I turn my back to the person. I then remove the handgun from the holster or box.

With the muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times, I release the magazine and lock the slide back.

I expect this act to eject any seated round. I’ve never had an ejection failure, but in my mind, I’m thinking there’d better be a round launched from the gun, or I’m calling this off.


I leave the ejected round where it lies while I swipe my pinky around interior of the magazine well. I then slide my pinky up the feed ramp and into the barrel to confirm there is nothing stopping my finger from entering the barrel.


I then set the slide + frame on a flat surface, muzzle still pointed in a safe direction. I pick up the magazine and any ejected round and I turn my back to the pistol and step out of the way so my curious person may inspect my sidearm.


At no time will any of my fingers be in the trigger guard. If I’m showing a revolver, I leave the cylinder outside the frame (I’ve never had a fixed cylinder revolver).

So I do not understand how a trained detective could break so many fundamental rules. I assume his backup weapon was in a holster and there was never an unintentional discharge in the holster. I can’t help but think poor muzzle control and poor finger discipline were the cause of this “accident.”

Ok, I'll say it. It really chaffs me that they’re calling it an accident.

In my mind, if it were me, I'd condemn myself for unforgivable carelessness.

How long have responsible gun owners been keeping their finger outside the trigger guard?

I remember seeing a picture of Annie Oakley with her finger indexed, outside her trigger guard so I suspect the practice goes back at least 90 years.

So indexing your finger is not new. Competent firearms instructors have been teaching this for a really long time.

I don’t understand how poor Sgt. Lucas could have failed to notice the unsafe manner in which the detective’s gun was being handled. If someone swipes me with their muzzle, they hear about it, sternly.

This is a tragic situation, but in my experience, it’s completely avoidable.


I’d feel better if someone can tell me that this was unavoidable, but right now, I can’t see how this accident had to happen. I'm sad about it and I'm a little angry and after typing this, I do feel a little better.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.


-Jon

 

[Lumpy Grits]

The ONLY time, I will hand someone a loaded firearm is on the range and then I watch them like a hawk.
Anytime someone wants to see my CCW, I will 'clear' it-NO EXCEPTIONS.
LG

 

[Hedgehog]

Essentially accidents happen when you are extremely familiar with something dangerous. A person has a firearm with him for years and handles it everyday of his life. In that instance it is easy to loose much of the fear of handling a firearm, everything becomes second nature and a level of complacency settles in. I haven't read the article linked in your post, but it is likely that is what happened. The guy had handled a firearm safely for many years and made a mistake.

Several years ago now I moderated a Predator hunting board. One of the other moderators was a police officer, Dave was big in firearms safety instruction and extremely knowledgeable. He posted quite a bit. Then one day he stopped posting and we never heard from him again. The board owner got worried about him so he made some phone calls. Dave was dead, he's killed himself by accident. His back-up and personal carry gun was an old Browning 32 Automatic. Evidence showed that he bent over and dropped it out of his holster or waste band (Mex style) and the gun discharged when it hit the floor shooting him in the chest. He went to the garage presumably to go to the hospital and died getting into his car. If an accident can happen to a guy like Dave it can happen to anyone of us.

My gun safety is many layers deep. Muzzle awareness, safety catches, checking the chamber ,,,, you know all the usual things we do for gun safety. It is a rare thing, but I admit to failing to occasionally follow through on some part of the safety procedures. First off I use a falling block single shot rifle, open the action and the chamber is right there in sight. Part of my firing procedure is dropping the safety just before the shot. On occasion I've pulled the rifle to my shoulder to shoot and found the safety off! When predator hunting I go to the stand with an empty rifle, sit, get comfortable and load the rifle with the safety on. Finding the safety off was disturbing enough, but the gun was always stable in shooting sticks, always pointed in a safe direction with my finger out of the trigger guard. Or I have opened the action at the truck and found it was still loaded. Sure the safety was on and the rifle was handled in a safe manner, but it still bothered me. These things usually happen when a routine is interrupted. Something fell, a coyote appeared quicker than expected, a finishing off shot was hurried but not taken. What I'm essentially saying is the more you handle a firearm the greater the opportunity is for mistakes to happen. Hopefully there are enough layers of gun safety wrapped around your firearm experience that nothing bad or tragic happens.

 

[jdcaples]

Thanks, Hedgehog. I sometimes find myself in the midst of mindlessly running my pinky up the feed ramp and I stop and start over. I am happy muscle memory works in my favor... Same with locking my van. I almost always hit the lock button again as I am walking away after parking it. I've handled firearms often enough to approach complacency, but I am still self aware enough to stop when something distracts me and then I give the firearm-related activity my full attention. When it happens, I chant "the gun is primed" over and over until it is clear. People notice that I index my finger when holding an impact wrench. Muscle memory is in my favor much of the time.

When shooting with someone I ask that someone else verifies my gun is ready to be stored. I am always asked to do the same and I am always pleased to oblige.

-Jon