Texas Girl Shot With Real Gun at Water Gun Fight

It appears to have been an accident
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 18, 2016 9:16 AM CDT

Police are sorting through what they're calling conflicting stories regarding an incident at a family gathering in a Houston suburb Saturday, but a 40-something man appears to have accidentally shot a 15-year-old girl during a water gun fight—except with an actual 9mm handgun, KTRK reports. Deputy constables say the man IDed as Jason Speights shot the teen in her shoulder, just an inch or so from her neck, and that she's in stable condition and expected to recover, per KPRC 2.

A neighbor says Speights apparently went back to his car to get some dry clothes after being sprinkled during the water gun free-for-all, retrieved the 9mm, and mistakenly fired it. "When he went to holster it he was spinning it on his finger, he pulled the trigger and accidentally shot her near the collarbone," a teen witness tells KTRK. A bullet also hit a car five houses down. "It was crazy, like you would never expect somebody to bring a gun to a barbecue, or a family gathering at all," another neighbor tells KPRC. Speights has been charged with deadly conduct. (Six people were killed at a family cookout in March.)

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