Do not grab a dropped gun!

http://www.orlandosentinel.com...-20170801-story.html

Orlando airport gun incident: Federal agent fires weapon accidentally at checkpoint

by Kevin Spear Contact Reporter
August 1, 2017 12:50PM

A federal officer accidentally shot his left foot late this morning in Orlando International Airport’s busy passenger lobby near the Hyatt hotel, startling scores of people who were nearby.

Law enforcement at the scene said the man was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent from Kansas City on vacation.

Wearing civilian clothes, including a T-shirt depicting an American flag and the word “PROUD,” he was treated in a wheelchair and then walked to a stretcher.

He was taken to a hospital, according to officers there.

An Orlando Police Department statement identified the man only as a federal agent, saying that while “unslinging a shoulder bag, the bag caught on the agent's holstered weapon.”

“While the weapon was falling, the agent tried to catch the firearm and inadvertently pulled the trigger. A bullet hit the agent in the heel and was recovered a few feet away,” according to the statement.

The Orlando police statement said no one else was injured and that there was no disruption of airport operations.

Many people in the open space near the hotel were unsettled by the loud bang. While it wasn’t immediately clear what had happened, several airport workers said they were certain they had heard a gunshot.

Later, as the man was being treated, officers photographed what appeared to be small tear in the carpeting where the man had been sitting.

Copyright © 2017, Orlando Sentinel

From now on, he'll be known as "Phooter."

Grabbing for this gun was fatal. I can't find the Navy Times article (which I had posted here many years ago), but they determined he accidentally dropped the M9, grabbed for it, and pulled the trigger.

https://pilotonline.com/news/m...76-d75ef4af94ab.html

Navy reservist shot, killed during Williamsburg weapons drill

Louis Hansen
Jun 23, 2008

WILLIAMSBURG

A Navy reservist was accidentally shot and killed during small-weapons training Saturday at Cheatham Annex in Williamsburg.

Petty Officer 1st Class Ronald D. Spivey, 53, of Franklin, died from a gunshot wound to the chest during a weapons qualification exercise at the annex, an auxiliary to Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, the Navy announced Monday.

Spivey, a reservist for 24 years, served with the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group. The accident occurred during a regularly scheduled training session.

About 40 service members were qualifying with 9 mm pistols Saturday when Spivey was struck in the chest at 3:15 p.m., according to a Navy statement.

He received care at the scene from a Navy hospital corpsman and was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News. He was pronounced dead at 4:33 p.m. The Navy is investigating and would provide no other details about the incident.

Spivey deployed to Kuwait in 2005 as a Navy customs inspector and was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal.

In an interview in March 2006 with The Virginian-Pilot, he described the daily challenges of checking war-weary troops coming home from battle.

Spivey briefed GIs on what they could not bring home and searched luggage for contraband. He also offered cookies and care packages to home-bound troops.

"It was tiresome," he said, adding, "we accomplished a lot." His wife, Sharon, and son Nick greeted him at Norfolk Naval Station after his eight-month deployment. It was his only deployment in the couple's 25-year marriage. Spivey is survived by his wife and two sons.

Spivey worked as postmaster in the Southampton County village of Newsoms for more than a dozen years. The four-person office serves the 200 residents and surrounding rural communities.

Spivey would often read mail to customers who had trouble understanding their letters, said Sandra Cooke, a postal carrier and friend. He knew everybody in town and "would do anything he could to help," Cooke said.

Michelle Steward, another postal clerk, saw him at the office on Saturday morning. He wore combat fatigues and a new pair of contact lenses, replacements for his usual pair of thick eyeglasses.

Spivey was in a good mood and ready for his Navy drill, she said. Recently, however, she added, he had been " thinking about retiring in the next couple of years."

News of the accident spread fast in the small community, she said. His friends lowered the American flag at the post office to half-staff on Sunday.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
I can't find the Navy Times article (which I had posted many years ago), but they determined he accidentally dropped the M9, grabbed for it, and pulled the trigger.

It was after learning about that incident that I added “If you drop or start to drop a gun, let it go rather than trying to catch it or break its fall” to my safety briefings. (That’s just one of several more firearms safety rules beyond “the” four that people prate about.)

quote:

...including a T-shirt depicting an American flag and the word “PROUD...

This is the only important part of the story, everything else is irrelevent.

Presumably he was the only one in the room professional enough to carry a Glock fotey.

This article states that the agent tried to catch his pistol as it fell from his holster and his finger caught the trigger:

http://www.wftv.com/news/local...jures-foot/578295185

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
I can't find the Navy Times article (which I had posted many years ago), but they determined he accidentally dropped the M9, grabbed for it, and pulled the trigger.

It was after learning about that incident that I added “If you drop or start to drop a gun, let it go rather than trying to catch it or break its fall” to my safety briefings. (That’s just one of several more firearms safety rules beyond “the” four that people prate about.)

Gun must have been in SA mode? Because, I don't see how, in DA mode, just grabbing it, even if your finger got inside the trigger guard, would result in a discharge. It requires a firm hold and a long and heavy pull to get a discharge in a unmodified DA gun like the M9.

What a dolt.

H&K-Guy

I assure you there was a disruption in operations when a gun was fired at the checkpoint.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

quote:

...including a T-shirt depicting an American flag and the word “PROUD...

This is the only important part of the story, everything else is irrelevent.

quote:

...while “unslinging a shoulder bag, the bag caught on the agent's holstered weapon.”

I'll bet it looked fabulous with his purse.