Scottsbluff Police in Nebraska received a call reporting a shooting at the Short Stop convenience store on Avenue I.
Officers were initially told a person had been shot with a BB gun. En route they were updated. It was a shotgun.
When they arrived they found a truck with an attached camper parked outside the store. The passenger side door had damage consistent with a shotgun blast. A woman nearby had been struck by a pellet in the arm while sitting in her car at an adjacent traffic light, her arm resting out the window.
The truck’s owner had pulled into the store and gone inside, leaving his dog alone in the back seat. A passenger had stepped out and was standing near the passenger door. The dog moved from one side of the back seat to the other and made contact with a loaded shotgun that had been left in the vehicle with a live shell in the chamber.
The gun went off.
The blast tore through the passenger door and struck the woman at the traffic light. Her injuries were minor.
No charges were filed against the dog.
Police used the opportunity to remind Nebraska residents that state law prohibits traveling with a loaded shotgun in a vehicle. The owner faces potential violations for improper firearm transport.
This is not the first time a dog has accidentally discharged a firearm in the United States. Similar incidents have been recorded in Iowa, Kansas, and Florida over the past decade, each time involving loaded weapons left within reach of animals in vehicles or hunting situations.
Dog Accidentally Fires Loaded Shotgun, Injures Woman Waiting at Nebraska Traffic Light
