A Texas man accidentally shot a child while officiating a wedding in Lancaster County on Saturday, the sheriff’s office says.

Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said deputies were sent to a wedding at Hillside Events near Denton on a report of a gunshot wound.

Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention.

“He was going to fire in the air, and as he did that, it slipped and went off,” Houchin said.

The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue.

  • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    The force of the expanding gas is sufficient to hurt people, even with a properly made blank. It’s why a gun designed to fire only blanks doesn’t even have a barrel with an opening that could compress the gas.

    It’s why you generally avoid firing a gun of any sort in a crowd. Even when they’re as safe as possible, they’re not safe.