A Michigan woman with special needs has been hospitalized and is fighting for her life after she was mistaken for a burglar and shot by her grandfather in his home.
The incident occurred on November 29 in Buena Vista Township at around 7:55 PM. Police responded to reports of a shooting in the 5000 block of Cabot Street to find a 26-year-old woman in the living room with a gunshot wound to her stomach. According to Buena Vista Township Police Detective Russ Pahssen, the woman had accompanied her grandmother home at around 7:15 PM and was watching television in the kitchen while her grandparents were lying on their bed.
Shortly after, her 63-year-old grandfather heard a noise and saw what appeared to be a shadow moving across a mirror through the open doorway of his bedroom. Having forgotten his granddaughter was present in the home and alarmed by the thought of an intruder, the grandfather went full Dirty Harry, pulling a .44 Magnum from under his pillow and making his way to the end of the hall.
According to authorities, that’s when he saw a silhouette in the living room and failed to recognize it as that of his granddaughter. He fired a single shot which struck the young woman in the stomach.
Upon realizing his error, the man rushed to his granddaughter’s aid, applying pressure to the wound as his wife called 911, Pahssen said.
The wounded woman was transported to a local hospital where she underwent surgery that same evening to stop internal bleeding but required additional surgery the following day to reconstruct internal organs. She remains in critical condition as of Dec. 2 according to detectives.
Brought to police headquarters for questioning, the grandfather was ultimately released as the .44 was legally owned by and registered to him with all signs pointing to a bad accident for which the grandfather was understandably shaken.
“He was really upset… He couldn’t believe he did it. He was very remorseful, but you gotta have better gun safety,” said Detective Pahssen who encourages gun owners not to keep firearms under pillows, and never to pull the trigger without being sure what you’re shooting at.
Upon completion of the investigation, Pahssen says his findings will be sent to the Saginaw County Prosecutor’s Office for review, however, I doubt we will see charges brought in this horrible accident.
As a proponent of keeping a light near or attached to any firearm that may be used to neutralize that which goes bump in the night, I feel this incident could have been avoided. At the end of the day, split-second decisions can go either way and while I hesitate to chastise the grandfather in this incident, it is monumentally important to know your target and what lies beyond.
That’s gotta suck.
I hope the granddaughter makes it.
Wow.
“Wow.”
No kidding. I’d say a .44 Mag is a very effective ‘tool’ for re-arranging internal organs in the abdominal cavity… 🙁
Grandpa’s big bore revolver under the pillow shooting at shadows.
How can you possibly forget that your granddaughter is visiting and then proceed to apply deadly force to a “silhouette” in your home?
I can maybe see this if it happened in the middle of the night where the grandfather was in a deep sleep and his granddaughter surprised him in his own bedroom. I am not okay with the grandfather supposedly being asleep at 7:30 p.m.–then getting up, walking across his bedroom and into the hallway, and then walking to the end of the hallway to shoot a silhouette in another room. How could someone not be fully awake by that point and remember that his granddaughter is visiting?
I have to wonder if the grandfather has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. It would tend to explain sleeping at such an early time as well–plus Alzheimer’s generates “sun down” paranoia in many sufferers which could contribute to a “shoot first and ask questions later” mentality at that time of evening.
We have motion sensor lights in every room of our house for just such a situation as we have my wife’s mother living with us and she is often up at all hours of the night. They help to keep the rooms well lit thus eliminating those pesky shadowy figures moving around the house.
Good idea.
“How can you possibly forget that your granddaughter is visiting and then proceed to apply deadly force to a “silhouette” in your home?“
He didn’t forget, and it wasn’t Alzheimer’s.
In many cases such as this, it’s intentional murder, sometimes abuse victims finally gain the courage to speak publicly about the abuse.
“Two weeks before Michael Haight killed his family, DCFS was in his home investigating allegations of threats and abuse
Family services division opened investigation in December into allegations of threats and abuse, but Michael Haight was never interviewed
Published: March 3, 2023, 3:40 p.m. MST“
A revolver should have the option of mounting a flashlight. Way back in the 1940s??? You could get a small light attachment. It was grip mounted.
The problem is the “gun community” has a difficult time getting its head out of “the box.”
And instead accept the fact that 21st century innovation, has really improved revolver and lever gun technology, from the 19th century.
I was very excited to purchase the new heritage rough rider tactical cowboy gun. With its threaded 22LR barrel. And with a picatinny rail on top.
By renting a suppressor and using agila calibri low velocity ammunition. This makes an outstanding combination for introducing new shooters. My first new shooter loved it.
A light can be mounted on top of the gun. The pic rail has a tunnel. So you can still see the front site through the rear site.
Is it this unorthodoxed? Yes, it is?
Is it outside the box thinking? Yes, it is.
And if I had to use it at night, at least I would be able to see, if it was a friend or a foe. Before I pulled the trigger.
I believe the R8 TRRB by S&W revolver has been out of production for a decade now. It was a pic rail on top and on the bottom.
That gun is a favorite for the competition revolver shooters.
the trr8 might be out of production, but the m&p r8 is currently in production. almost the same gun as the trr. comes with a pic rail under the barrel and a second rail that can be bolted to the top. 8 rounds on tap. and several companies make speed loaders for them.
“I was very excited to purchase the new heritage rough rider tactical cowboy gun“
I’ll bet you were very excited…. is this a serious post?
“rough rider tactical cowboy gun“
Yep, I bet that made you a ‘real rough rider’ with all the boys.
uncommon_sense
Another negative that will arise from this is the left will holler about homes with guns are not safe and that bad things can happen such as this terrible incident.
Wishing the young lady a full recovery. The grandfather has to be devastated and will have this burden for the rest of his life.
“the left will holler about homes with guns are not safe and that bad things can happen such as this terrible inciden“
No need to holler, the facts speak for themselves:
“Owning Guns Puts People in Your Home at Greater Risk of Being Killed, New Study Shows
BY DAVID STUDDERTJUNE 3, 2022 3:16 PM EDT
Studdert is a Professor of Law and of Health Policy at Stanford University
People living with handgun owners died by homicide at twice the rate of their neighbors in gun-free homes. That difference was driven largely by homicides at home, which were three times more common among people living with handgun owners.
We detected much larger differences for particular types of homicide. Most notably, people living with handgun owners were seven times more likely to be shot by their spouse or intimate partner. In many of these cases, instead of being protective, the household gun probably operated as the instrument of death.
An especially troubling finding was that the vast majority of victims in these intimate partner shootings—84% in all—were female. It stands to reason that women bear the brunt of any second-hand risks that flow from firearm ownership. That’s because most people who live with gun owners and don’t themselves own guns are women“
The old shoot and ask questions later mentality landed careless gramps in the hall of shame. If she pulls through after a .44 mag to the gut it will be by the grace of God and She certainly deserves all the grace she can get.
👍👍
Darwin Award
Darwin Award means that you are so stupid that you take yourself out of the gene pool before you reproduce.
I don’t see this incident as a Darwin Award.
dacian, miner, and jsled have achieved this with their personalities.
Even though bolshie chicks are supposed to be willing with their favours, even they have standards. Or consider a tryst with those three as bestiality.
Southern Cross.
Beastiality with worms?
That explains why Miner49 is always fcking himself.
If you don’t have a light on your home defense and carry guns that’s a problem which needs to be fixed.
“.44 was legally owned by and registered to him”.
“REGISTERED”? There is No 2nd in Mich? The state has Governor Whitless (and before her another female demtard moron governor) so it figures,
Michigan, at least before Covid, did recognize CC from other states.
But then Covid happened and Michigan blocked people from shopping for gardening equipment and seeds at Lowes/Depot, and also blocked people from leaving the cities for their 2nd home in the country.
And Michigan voters decided to make up for it by re-electing their fraud of a governor. You know, after all of this fraud.
But people have been leaving Michigan. To the point where the state will probably lose some electoral votes come 2030.
“before her another female demtard moron governor“
You know, it wasn’t the female governors who shot the unfortunate young lady, it was her own responsible gun owner grandfather.
Your none-too-subtle attempt to shift blame is hilarious.
idiot.
Step one: mount a light on your home defense gun. At least 500 lumens.
Step two: when approaching a possible threat, point the gun up at the ceiling, weapon mounted light on.
You’ll bounce enough light off the ceiling to positively ID anybody in a room without muzzling them.
I used to think weapon mounted lights were a morally bad idea until I tried the “point it up” trick indoors at night.
It works.
“point the gun up at the ceiling, weapon mounted light on.“
Step three: burglar sees light , shoots homeowner.
Special needs.
I need a surgeon.
Something to remember:
People in their 60s and above, are probably not sleeping at night.
No, not really. They might not wake up if something makes a loud noise. That’s because they’re probably already awake anyway, trying to decide if they have enough bladder capacity to stay in bed for another hour, or if now is the appointed time they should meander to a toilet.
So grandpa needs to be careful with grandma in the house. Assuming she’s not some 20-something trophy wife, she’s also not sleeping through the night.
If he hears a bump in the night, it might be his wife!
This time it was dear grand daughter.
This is his fault for being a careless knob.
But having said that, if YOU live in an armed house with somebody in their 60s and up, and you’ve decided to go make yourself a salami sammich at 2 am, you GDDM need to turn on some effing lights!
And if you hear anything behind you, like creaking knees, for example, you need to SPEAK UP and IDENTIFY YOURSELF.
This could have been avoided. Gramps was at fault, and all the other posts here have given good advice on lights, so I won’t go into that.
Who knows if a special needs granddaughter is going to be able to do the things I suggested above…but for the rest of us, there’s no excuse. You live in an armed house, for crying out loud! Why are you tiptoeing around at night and keeping the lights off?
Anyway, some things to think about.
Additional thoughts:
I have ambient lighting throughout the house. You know, those strips of LED lights you can get from Lowes/Depot. Mine can do RGB, but after midnight, I have them set to go to very very low soft white, and to shut off at 3 am.
Currently, it’s only dark in my house between 3 am and dawn. But sometimes I’m up at 5 am making coffee, so I’m thinking of setting the ambient light app to keep the kitchen ambient lighting down to 1% all the way through the night. 1% is very very low, but is still blindingly bright for somebody who has been laying in the dark for a couple hours, so it’s plenty for making “friend or foe” decisions under most cases.
Might not be a bad idea, especially paired with a rail light on the home defense bang stick.
Osprey, the night lights in my house are red.
Doesn’t effect night vision, no blinking if and when I wake up.
This is a simple gun safety rules violation. Not knowing your target and what’s beyond. The family needs to disarm him before he kills his wife or neighbors.