Suicide at my local range

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Aaron1100us

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Just thinking, how many of us pay attention to the behavior of others the shooting range?

Just last Sunday, some guy took a handgun, stuck it to his chest and pulled the trigger. This is an open public range. A DNR official had been there 30 minutes before and noticed the guy was eating an MRE and acting strange.

The Sheriff's Deputies confiscated everyone's guns at the range. Guess it was to make sure it was his gun that shot himself. That would sure suck to have your guns taken away. They are going to sit uncleaned for who knows how long. And probably not handled very nicely.

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Man-Dead-After-Shooting-Range-Incident-194724071.html?m=y&smobile=y
 
Very sad when something like this happens.
Glad I shoot at home and don't have to worry about disturbed people, other than myself.
 
I agree. Too bad he didn't get help before. I grew up on an acerage and could shoot there. I've lived in a city for several years now and have to go to the public range. Only two around here.
 
Sad, but not much you can do about things like that. Unless he told someone he was going to do it there really aren't any good warning signs. Eating a MRE and acting "strange" really isn't a good indicator that bad things are about to happen.
 
It is a shame when someone takes their own life, I wonder what could have been so bad that maybe he thought this was the only way out. The family he left behind may never know why he did this.
 
I have to wonder "Why there". I have heard of people who were not gun owners who walk into ranges, rent a gun, buy a box of ammo and take their lives. But this guy had guns.
 
I have to wonder "Why there". I have heard of people who were not gun owners who walk into ranges, rent a gun, buy a box of ammo and take their lives. But this guy had guns.
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Our range had a suicide like that a few years back. Now, the policy is that if it's your very first time there, they won't rent you a gun unless you also brought gun(s) of your own.

I agree that it's a horrible tragedy, but I also acknowledge that in the case of a determined suicide, there's not much you can do to stop them once they've decided.
 
The Sheriff's Deputies confiscated everyone's guns at the range. Guess it was to make sure it was his gun that shot himself. That would sure suck to have your guns taken away.
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Can someone please explain to me how this is justified? I don't see any way there can be a mistake about which gun was used and this seems to be wrong in many ways.
 
Explain how that is justified? Sure, just it was explained. Who is to say that is was a suicide and not a murder made to look like a suicide. It is, after all, a homicide.

Sort of like with a lot of self defense shootings where folks don't understand why the person defending themselves was "treated like a criminal" (detained, often in cuffs, sometimes arrested), short of absolute evidence to the contrary, it is the job of the police to work out what happened and to determine the validity of the claims/evidence.

Keep in mind that while people do commit suicide at the range, they also commit murder at the range as well. Also as noted, it is somewhat unusual for a person to bring in his/her own guns for a suicide.

A DNR official had been there 30 minutes before and noticed the guy was eating an MRE and acting strange.
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Before buying my own place, I had been a member at 4 different ranges, but private and public. They all had strange people and people who acted strangely while there. Having such isn't unusual given the population. Lots of people act strange every day without doing a single thing wrong other than being strange.

So the guy was acting strange. He wasn't apparently acting strange enough to illicit a reaction from the DNR officer or anybody else at the range.
 
Chances are good everyone's eyes were downrange when he fired the shot that killed himself and no one actually saw it happen. This is just good police work. It removes any possibility of someone later saying that it was murder, or an accidental shooting by someone else in the range. If there is ever ANY doubt about what happened there will be lawsuits later. Personally I'd want them to take my guns and do a ballistic test to elminate me as a possible suspect later. It also protects the owners of the range from liability claims.

Yes it is a hassle, but far less than having to testify in a trial later, or even have to hire a lawyer to prove It wasn't my gun. That is much harder to do after the body is buried, or cremated.
 
I have a question on that. Did they take every single gun present or just the ones that were out and being fired? I know when my friends and I go, we have the gun we are firing and a small one concealed. Our range allows us to that as long as a gun is holstered or out on the table. Did anyone have to give up their concealed, but yet unfired guns?
 
Sort of like with a lot of self defense shootings where folks don't understand why the person defending themselves was "treated like a criminal" (detained, often in cuffs, sometimes arrested), short of absolute evidence to the contrary, it is the job of the police to work out what happened and to determine the validity of the claims/evidence.
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Are you saying that just because you happened to be present in the range at that time, that it is acceptable for you to essentially be treated as a suspect in committing homicide?

I think it's different from your example above, where you yourself have committed the shooting and there is no question about that fact.
 
Are you saying that just because you happened to be present in the range at that time, that it is acceptable for you to essentially be treated as a suspect in committing homicide?
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1. Someone is dead and has a bullet hole in their chest.
2. You are there with a gun.

Why wouldn't you expect to be treated as a suspect? If it was your brother on the ground, wouldn't you want the investigation to be thorough?
 
1. Someone is dead and has a bullet hole in their chest.
2. You are there with a gun.

Why wouldn't you expect to be treated as a suspect? If it was your brother on the ground, wouldn't you want the investigation to be thorough?
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You don't think it would be more apparent that what happened was self-inflicted as opposed to someone else shooting the guy from a side angle? It's also not as if the incident could then be staged afterward with other witnesses present.

I think from all appearances a good investigator could determine the likelihood of self-infliction without causing innocents to be made suspect of murder.
 
AH.74 said:
1. Someone is dead and has a bullet hole in their chest.
2. You are there with a gun.

Why wouldn't you expect to be treated as a suspect? If it was your brother on the ground, wouldn't you want the investigation to be thorough?
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You don't think it would be more apparent that what happened was self-inflicted as opposed to someone else shooting the guy from a side angle? It's also not as if the incident could then be staged afterward with other witnesses present....
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Do you have any idea what the situation looked like when the police arrived? How would you, or any of us, have any clue what would be more apparent?

AH.74 said:
...I think from all appearances a good investigator could determine the likelihood of self-infliction without causing innocents to be made suspect of murder.
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Do you have any idea how to conduct an investigation of anything? Do you have any idea how to manage a possible crime scene?

Some of the general rules of conducting an investigation: (1) don't make snap judgments based on immediate appearances; (2) preserve evidence; (3) gather evidence; (4) review evidence; and (5) then start to draw inferences from the evidence about what happened.
 
Guy shoots himself in the chest. Body goes down, gun goes down.

Is it more likely to look like he shot himself, or that someone else did?

I have not heard of other similar situations wherein everyone present was treated like a suspect. Have you?
 
Our range had a suicide like that a few years back. Now, the policy is that if it's your very first time there, they won't rent you a gun unless you also brought gun(s) of your own.
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My range does the same thing, except you can't rent a gun AT ALL unless you are with a friend.
 
There was a suicide by cop near a local LGS within the last few years. Guy walked in, bought a pistol, bought a box of ammo and walked outside and started firing into the air. Cops responded and the guy started pointing the gun at the officers, challenging them to shoot him. They really didn't have a choice at that point.
 
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