A woman in Connecticut was seriously injured when her downstairs neighbor accidentally fired a gun, shooting her through the ceiling of his apartment.
Police in Groton said dispatchers received several 911 calls around 10:50 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14, reporting a gunshot at an apartment complex.
One of the callers, 30-year-old Caleb Bean, told police that he had “accidentally discharged his firearm while attempting to cycle the action of his rifle.” He also said the bullet had hit a woman living in the apartment directly above him. When officers arrived, they found that she had been shot in the leg.
“[Two] neighbors, as well as the victim’s boyfriend, were attempting to treat the victim with a makeshift tourniquet while talking with her to keep her awake and focused,” police said. The woman — whose identity has not been released — had lost a significant amount of blood.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by WFSB, Bean told one witness, “I’m the one who did this. What can I do to help?”
Officers applied tourniquets to control the bleeding, and emergency personnel took the woman to a local hospital. She had surgery for life-threatening injuries and is currently in intensive care, police said.
Investigators found an AR-15-style rifle at the scene, and Bean was arrested shortly after. Police charged him with two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, two counts of third-degree criminal mischief, first-degree assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and second-degree breach of peace.
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Bean was initially held on a $250,000 cash or surety bond, but a judge later reduced it to $15,000, court records show.
Speaking with WFSB, Robert Guest of Eastern Connecticut Firearms Safety said the safest way to handle guns is to keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot and always assume a gun is loaded.
“Always point your gun in a safe direction,” Guest said. “And if there’s a chance someone is above you, pointing up is probably not the safest option.”
He added, “These things are only as safe as the person using them. Quality training is important. This kind of accident is extremely rare — like playing the lottery. Not just the gun going off accidentally, but everything happening exactly this way.”
