July 11, 2009 12:55 am
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CARTHAGE, Mo. — A Carthage man who was showing a handgun to friends Thursday night accidentally shot both of them, according to police.
Officers and emergency medical technicians were called about 8 p.m. to a residence in the 600 block of George Phelps Drive on the south side of Carthage.
Police Chief Greg Dagnan said a 19-year-old man and a 49-year-old man had been shot in their legs. The older man was flown by medical helicopter to a Joplin hospital for treatment of bullet wounds to both legs. The younger man, who was shot through the back of one of his calves, was taken by ambulance to McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital in Carthage.
Dagnan said the 27-year-old man who lives at the address was showing his semiautomatic handgun to the other two men while they were seated on a couch. The younger man was in the middle with his legs crossed. The gun discharged and a single bullet passed through the back of one of the younger man’s legs and then through both legs of the 49-year-old man who was seated on the other end of the couch, Dagnan said.
“I’m not absolutely sure if it was operator error or gun malfunction,” the police chief said. “But either way you look at it, it’s going to be an accidental discharge.”
Dagnan said that since no crime was involved and no charges were anticipated, police would not be releasing the names of the men.
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