Dogs may be man’s best friend, but one American owner learnt a valuable lesson about adding firearms to the relationship when he was accidentally shot by his pet.
Jerald Kirkwood was in bed with a female companion at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, when his one-year-old pitbull, Oreo, inadvertently set off a stray gun. The animal got his paw “stuck in the trigger guard and ended up hitting the trigger”, police said.
A bullet grazed Kirkwood’s thigh and he was taken to hospital in a non-critical condition, while the woman fled. “When officers asked the victim where the weapon was, he advised that the female friend took it when she left,” the police report said. Officers found a shell casing.
The local Fox 13 news station said Kirkwood’s partner, who was not named, called Oreo “a playful dog, and he likes to jump around and stuff like that”. She said the gun “just went off” and warned other pet owners: “Keep the safety on or use a trigger lock.”
The home in Memphis, Tennessee, where Jerald Kirkwood was shot
Two years ago, Joseph Smith was shot dead when a German shepherd dog in the back seat of a car stepped on the trigger of a hunting rifle. The barrel was facing Smith, officials said.
In 2019, a former Louisiana state university football player, Matt Branch, had his leg amputated after his black labrador, Tito, stepped on a shotgun during a duck hunt. Branch walks using a titanium prosthetic but still hunts.
A year before, Richard Remme of Fort Dodge, Iowa, escaped with relatively minor injuries when he was inadvertently shot by a gun on his belt while playing with his pitbull-labrador cross, Balew.
Remme said he thought the dog must have “bumped the safety one time and when he bounded back over one of his toes went right down into the trigger guard”. He also called Balew a “big wuss” for lying down and crying after the incident.
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