In an incident that suggests how easily an accident involving firearms can happen, a man in Tennessee accidentally shot himself while in bed with his dog.
Authorities in Memphis reported that Jerald Kirkwood was lying in bed with a woman and a loaded firearm when his dog, a one-year-old pit bull named Oreo, jumped up and discharged the weapon. The bullet grazed Kirkwood’s left thigh, but he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police in Tennessee classified the incident as an accidental injury, and no legal action was taken against Kirkwood or Oreo. In the aftermath, both Kirkwood and the unnamed woman with him in the home pledged to take precautions to avoid future gun accidents. The woman told a local news station that they would make sure to properly secure their firearms with safety mechanisms.
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence reported that between 2019 and 2021, unintentional firearm injuries were the main type of gun injuries that required hospitalization in the United States. Such incidents are an ongoing concern and highlight the importance of gun safety and responsible firearm ownership.
Kirkwood is not the only individual to have been injured by a pet. In 2018, Richard Remme of Iowa reported being shot by a gun he had tucked into his waistband while playing around with his pit bull-labrador mix. In another separate incident, Matt Branch, a former Louisiana State University football player, was shot by his black labrador retriever in 2019 when the dog stepped on a hunting shotgun left in a utility terrain vehicle. As a result, Branch’s leg had to be amputated.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/12/tennessee-man-shot-by-dog
