A discussion about guns in church went off the rails this week when an elderly man accidentally shot himself and his wife.
Knox News reports the incident happened Thursday (Nov. 16) at First United Methodist Church in East Tennessee. Wayne Reid, 81, stayed with his wife Kathy and a few other parishioners to clean up after a pre-Thanksgiving lunch when the Sutherland Springs church shooting came up. Reid showed his .380 caliber Ruger handgun to the group before removing the magazine and clearing the chamber. He then reloaded the gun before putting it back in his holster.
Reid forgot he reloaded the gun, and showed to someone else and pulled the trigger to prove it wasn’t loaded. Tellico Plains Police Chief Russ Parks tells reporters the bullet sliced his palm and then hit his wife in the abdomen and exited her right side. The bullet then ricocheted off the wall and landed under a wheelchair.
The couple was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville and were treated for minor injures.
The moment may have shaken up their friends, but no one decided to press charges. Reid is also able to keep his gun and permit. “As far as I know, he’ll get to keep it,” Parks said. “No one who was in the church is wishing to press charges, and we in the police department think they’ve suffered enough.”