Two accidental shootings this week. Also: I’ve been meaning to say this for a while now but what the hell is going on in Memphis?
I mean, it’s EVERY DAY. Chattanooga, too. And yes, there are stabbings, but guns are far more lethal. And what’s up with the increase in the murder rate? I thought more guns would keep the murder rate down?
• May 14, 2016:
Memphis mom of the year nominee waved a gun at five kids outside a community center in an ill-advised attempt to defend her daughter from some bullies. When you have a gun, it seems all other options for problem resolution just fly out the window.
• May 13, 2016:
1- An 18-year-old Memphis teen getting ready for her prom was shot in the chest by her 17-year-old boyfriend. The boy was “playing with the gun when it went off.” Oops.
2- A Columbia man nearly shot an innocent person in a case of mistaken identity:
“I was driving down the road, back home from my mother’s house, when I heard a loud gunshot,” Rogalski said. “It sounded very close to me. It was super loud, like nothing I’ve ever heard before.
“I instantly called my mom, and she told me to find a safe place to pull over my car and see what happened,” the 21-year-old Columbia resident said. “I got out, and there was a bullet in my car.”
The bullet went through the back door on the driver’s side of her car and ricocheted through the passenger’s head rest in the front seat. Her mother, Lori King, rushed down one-lane, unpaved Porters Branch Road toward Old Natchez Trace Road, about a mile away, to find out what happened.
“I felt like I had a target on my forehead,” Rogalski said.
So this woman is driving down a road and is nearly shot in the head. So, let’s find out about the shooter:
As it turns out, it was a case of mistaken identity, Rogalski said.
After waiting for deputies to arrive, another car, similar to hers, pulled up. The person in the car asked Rogalski and her family if they knew how to locate the 22-year-old Temes, apparently trying to collect a drug debt.
“It is believed that due to this fear of being in danger that Mr. Temes has taken to arming himself daily with a firearm,” a deputy’s report on the incident said.
So, was he a good guy with a gun or a bad guy? Hard to tell here. So confusing.
• May 12, 2016:
A Soddy Daisy 18-year-old driving through downtown Chattanooga is shot at by a man in a gold mini van in what’s believed to be a road rage incident.
• May 11, 2016:
Domestic assault, Paris edition. I’m not clear if the couple were arguing over a telephone or were actually on the phone when he shot through the kitchen ceiling at her.
I bring it up because guns are very much a women’s issue. Guns are used in an astonishing number of domestic violence cases, and the idea that women should just arm themselves so they can fire back is just … retarded.
• May 10, 2016:
A Gun Report update: murder charges have been filed against CCW-holder Michael W. Young of Johnson City, stemming from a February road rage incident featured in the March 9 Gun Report. Young gunned down Jesus Mijares in front of his 14-year-old son.
• May 8, 2016:
1- Knox County man target shooting accidentally shoots an innocent person sitting in his car. Ooops:
Robert Mathis, 32, was shooting at a backstop to check the accuracy of the sites on his weapon, when the ammunition went beyond the backstop, travelling down an embankment and through a wooded area striking a vehicle.
Benjamin Fawver, 33, was seated in the vehicle and was struck in the left arm.
Article doesn’t say how far away the car was parked. It’s a pretty sad day when a person can’t sit in their own car without worrying about getting shot by some yahoo target shooting on the other side of the woods, though.
2- Yet another person driving on the interstate in Memphis is shot. This is happening a lot.
Police said it is unclear if the shooting was caused by road rage, but drivers worry that with so many road rage shootings this year, that may have been the case.
Guns in cars, now whose bright idea was that?
