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Dog Accidentally Fires Shotgun, Injures Woman Outside Nebraska Convenience Store
A dog left unattended in a truck outside a Scottsbluff convenience store accidentally stepped on a loaded shotgun, firing a blast through the passenger door that struck a woman sitting at a nearby traffic light.
A Short Stop gas station in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Photograph: Google Maps
The police radio said someone had been shot with a BB gun outside a convenience store in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
By the time officers arrived, the story had changed. It was a shotgun.
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The suspect was a dog.
Shortly after noon on May 24, the owner of a truck with an attached camper had pulled into the Short Stop convenience store at 2002 Avenue I. While a passenger stood near the front passenger side door, a dog in the backseat moved across the vehicle and stepped on a loaded shotgun with a live shell in the chamber.
The firearm discharged, sending pellets through the passenger door.
At that exact moment, a woman sitting at a traffic light on Avenue I had her arm resting outside her window.
One pellet struck her in the upper right arm. Her injuries were not life-threatening and a family member transported her to Regional West Medical Center for treatment.
The owner had gone inside to buy something. He was probably in there for two minutes.
That was enough.
Officers arriving on scene found the truck's passenger side door panel had sustained damage consistent with a shotgun blast. The dog was unharmed. The passenger standing outside the vehicle was unharmed. The only person hit was a complete stranger sitting in a car on a public road minding her own business.
If you have followed this far, here is the part that goes beyond the absurdity of the headline.
In Nebraska it is illegal to transport a loaded shotgun in a vehicle. The Scottsbluff Police Department used the incident to remind residents that firearm safety is of the utmost importance when handling, possessing, transporting or maintaining any type of firearm.
A loaded shotgun. In the backseat. With a dog. With the safety apparently not engaged. Parked at a convenience store while the owner ran inside.
Every single one of those decisions had to go wrong simultaneously for this to happen. And somehow they all did.
The investigation is ongoing. No charges have been announced as of this writing. The dog has not been charged with anything, which is perhaps the most legally straightforward part of this entire story.
Somewhere in Scottsbluff, a woman is recovering from a gunshot wound she received while sitting at a red light on a Saturday afternoon. She was not near a shooting range. She was not in a dangerous area. She was just waiting for the light to turn green.
Nebraska has a firearm transportation law for exactly this reason. It just did not help her on Saturday.
Editor's Note: The Scottsbluff incident is equal parts bizarre and serious. A woman was shot by a stray pellet through no fault of her own while sitting in her car. The law against transporting loaded firearms in vehicles exists to prevent exactly this kind of accident. The investigation will determine what consequences, if any, follow for the truck's owner.
