MILWAUKEE, Wis. – An off-duty security officer accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a football game between Wisconsin Lutheran and Milwaukee Lutheran High Schools on Friday night.
The officer was not employed by either school. He was the only person injured during the shooting and was taken to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries. The severity of his injuries is not known, although it is believed they are not life-threatening.
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The shooting caused panic among the players, coaches, and spectators at the game, reports TMJ4. They fled the area as soon as they heard the shots, reports WISN. The stadium was evacuated, and the game was ended by mutual consent, reports Fox6Now.
Immediately after the shooting, police arrived at the scene. Milwaukee PD has referred the man who negligently discharged his gun to be charged with carrying a concealed weapon and endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon.
U.S. Has Highest Rate of Negligent Firearm Discharge Deaths
Friday’s incident in Milwaukee follows a spate of incidents that happened earlier this year where armed officers forgot to take their guns with them after using the bathroom on a K-12 campus.
Related Article: Police and Security Officers Keep Leaving Their Guns in School Bathrooms
Going back further, according to the Giffords Law Center, from 2014 to 2020, there were 40 incidents where guns were left accessible to children, 20 times guns were discharged unintentionally, six times guns were mishandled during discipline, and 20 times guns were used in times of personal stress or conflict. All of these incidents happened at a school.
In the United States, there are about 500 unintentional firearm deaths and 27,000 unintentional firearm injuries each year, according to the CDC. People living in the U.S. are four times more likely to die from an unintentional firearm injury than residents of other high-income countries (Solnick & Hemenway, 2019). Additionally, an estimated 37% of gunshot injuries in the U.S. are the result of accidental shootings/negligent discharges, reports The Trace.
