Copyright 2002 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 25, 2002 Tuesday Five Star Lift Edition
SECTION: ST. CHARLES COUNTY POST; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 438 words
HEADLINE: ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING VICTIM'S FATHER FILES SUIT;
WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT LISTS FOUR PEOPLE;
SEEKS EXPENSES, DAMAGES
BYLINE: Valerie Schremp Of The Post-Dispatch
BODY:
The father of a man who was accidentally shot to death at a friend's house in St. Peters has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the shooter, the owner of the gun, the owner of the house and the man who sold the gun.
Michael Thompson, 25, is accused of fatally shooting Andy Nolfo, 26, of St. Charles, in April. They had met at a friend's home to play computer games, and witnesses say Thompson was playing with the gun when he jokingly pointed it at one of his other friends. He pulled the trigger, but the gun did not go off. Thompson then picked up the gun again and this time cocked it, apparently unaware that he was letting a bullet fall into the chamber, police said. He pointed the gun at Nolfo and squeezed the trigger, shooting him.
Louis C. Nolfo, Andy Nolfo's father, filed the suit last week in St. Charles County Circuit Court. Named in the lawsuit are Thompson, Jimmy Bedrosian, 23, who lived in the house and owned the gun; Robert Huff, 38, who sold the gun to Bedrosian; and Christopher Crossen, 31, who owned the house. The defendants have 30 days to respond to the suit.
Only Thompson faces criminal charges. He is in the St. Charles County Jail in lieu of a $150,000 cash-only bond on charges of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.
The suit says that Thompson was negligent when he got the gun from Bedrosian and did not check whether the gun was loaded. Bedrosian had played with the loaded and unlocked 9 mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol, the lawsuit says, and he had been pointing the gun at his friends that day and pulled the trigger without "chambering" a round of ammunition.
Huff, the suit says, "illegally transferred" the gun to Bedrosian and did not have a gun permit. Police said Monday that apparently a gun permit had been issued but became void because no one picked it up.
Crossen allowed people to "reside and interact" at the house on Mayfield Drive "in an unsupervised and unregulated manner," the suit says. The suit says the other defendants were permitted to consume mind-altering drugs and to play with the loaded handgun.
Lt. Brad North, of the St. Peters Police Department, said Monday that there was no evidence the men were using any type of drugs.
Nolfo is seeking funeral and burial expenses and emotional damages. The suit concludes with the statement: "... Each defendant had within his means the ability readily to have prevented the tragedy by the exercise of a mere modicum of restraint or common sense, especially in light of the risk of harm known to exist when playing with something as inherently lethal and dangerous as a gun."
What, he's not suing the guy who sold the ammo? And the guy who walked past his son on the street earlier that day? And God?
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 25, 2002 Tuesday Five Star Lift Edition
SECTION: ST. CHARLES COUNTY POST; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 438 words
HEADLINE: ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING VICTIM'S FATHER FILES SUIT;
WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT LISTS FOUR PEOPLE;
SEEKS EXPENSES, DAMAGES
BYLINE: Valerie Schremp Of The Post-Dispatch
BODY:
The father of a man who was accidentally shot to death at a friend's house in St. Peters has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the shooter, the owner of the gun, the owner of the house and the man who sold the gun.
Michael Thompson, 25, is accused of fatally shooting Andy Nolfo, 26, of St. Charles, in April. They had met at a friend's home to play computer games, and witnesses say Thompson was playing with the gun when he jokingly pointed it at one of his other friends. He pulled the trigger, but the gun did not go off. Thompson then picked up the gun again and this time cocked it, apparently unaware that he was letting a bullet fall into the chamber, police said. He pointed the gun at Nolfo and squeezed the trigger, shooting him.
Louis C. Nolfo, Andy Nolfo's father, filed the suit last week in St. Charles County Circuit Court. Named in the lawsuit are Thompson, Jimmy Bedrosian, 23, who lived in the house and owned the gun; Robert Huff, 38, who sold the gun to Bedrosian; and Christopher Crossen, 31, who owned the house. The defendants have 30 days to respond to the suit.
Only Thompson faces criminal charges. He is in the St. Charles County Jail in lieu of a $150,000 cash-only bond on charges of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.
The suit says that Thompson was negligent when he got the gun from Bedrosian and did not check whether the gun was loaded. Bedrosian had played with the loaded and unlocked 9 mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol, the lawsuit says, and he had been pointing the gun at his friends that day and pulled the trigger without "chambering" a round of ammunition.
Huff, the suit says, "illegally transferred" the gun to Bedrosian and did not have a gun permit. Police said Monday that apparently a gun permit had been issued but became void because no one picked it up.
Crossen allowed people to "reside and interact" at the house on Mayfield Drive "in an unsupervised and unregulated manner," the suit says. The suit says the other defendants were permitted to consume mind-altering drugs and to play with the loaded handgun.
Lt. Brad North, of the St. Peters Police Department, said Monday that there was no evidence the men were using any type of drugs.
Nolfo is seeking funeral and burial expenses and emotional damages. The suit concludes with the statement: "... Each defendant had within his means the ability readily to have prevented the tragedy by the exercise of a mere modicum of restraint or common sense, especially in light of the risk of harm known to exist when playing with something as inherently lethal and dangerous as a gun."
What, he's not suing the guy who sold the ammo? And the guy who walked past his son on the street earlier that day? And God?