Spencer4006
Member
My name is spencer and I was in that classroom at the time of the incident and only 5 feet away from the student who got shot at the time of the shooting and feel the need to clarify some of the **** being said on other websites... There is NO range on campus, just an apparatus called the "hog" used by the teachers to test fire student firearms projects for safety. And there are NO full auto weapons just heald on the campus. This is a 1 week long course put on bby local law enforcement for the purpose of learning the design function and repair of full auto firearms for Law enforcement and military aplications. You do not get to own a full auto just because you take the class. You get to convert an AR platform rifle to full auto during the week long class for the purpose of learning how a full auto works. At the end of the class you have to destroy the part/parts used to make the firearm full auto.
And as to the accidental discharge in class:
I was 5 feet away from the student who took the bullet. It was a ricochet from a .45 1911 and was an fmj. I was one of the only people who actually saw the whole event happen. An older guy on the opposite side of the classroom had just recieved a bunch of dummy rounds to function test his 1911 project and somehow, he managed to get a live round mixed in with the dummy rounds andwhile he was testing the trigger, he fired a shot at the ground and that shot hit my friend in the back. I will not give names. Everybody was in disbelief. My friend didnt even know he hadgeen hit until he feelt a small pain in his back and proceeded to feel his back with his hand which is when he accidentally touched the wound and ran out of the room, stating "o **** i just got shot!" the teacher immediatly called 911 and got an ambulance and police there right away. He was rushed to the hospital and life flighted to a hhospital in reno because the hospital in susanville does not have a trauma center. After medical imaging, doctors deemed it was just a flesh wound and that he would be fine and didnt need surgery and left the bullet in his back. My friend returned to school the next day an walked in on his own two feet.
As to the shooter:
He was an older man and was in complet disbelief that he had just shot somebody and began to panic. He proceeded to disassemble his 1911 because of his disbelief. While we were waiting for news and instructions on what to do he came up to me and asked me how my friend was doing. He had a pale look on his face and looked like he was in panic. After we had all been instructed to leave the classroom by local police, he (the shooter) proceeded to have a minor cardiac infarction due to his state of panic and shock and was also taken to the hospital.
Both people survived the ordeal and my friend decided it wasnt worth pressing charges over a complete accident, which not only saved the shooter, but probably the entire gunsmithing program. For an accidental shooting, tis was as "minor" as it could be.
I volunteered to give a witness statement to the police because i was the only person who saw where the shot came from and also had the victim in my line of sight. 2 other students gave witness statements based on the sounds they heard via the gunshot but admitted to not actually seeing it happen.
As to firearm safety in the classroom:
Yes this was extremely disturbing and could have killed anyone in the class. My teacher pointed out to me that less than an inch of difference in the directon the gun was pointed, and it could hav been me or any of the other students around us.
What was even more disturbing to me was that we were ALL working on 1911's that day, and most of the class was made up of COPS. Not just the fact that they were LEO's, but the fact that some of them were actually carryig LOADED .45 1911's in the classroom even though they were also working on .45 1911's in the class. And almost as disturbing as that, only a few of us (including me) instantly knew it was a gunshot at the time it happened... The cops were looking around as if they had never heard a gunshot indors before, even the ones that were previously boasting about firefights and narc operations and such.
This exposed another issue in the classroom, CCW holders carrying loaded firearms in class (all of which were LEO's of some sort). There was supposed to be NO LIVE AMMO in ANY part of the machine shop or gunsmithing classrooms, other than the teachers office to check in for test firing in the hog.
The head of the gunsmithing program had to rewrite and amend the safety rulesof theentire gunsmithing department because of this incedent and has since made the school sawr or the students and teachers alike.
I had to leave the 2 year program 2 weeks into the startt o the first semester to get a surgery unrelated to the shooting incident. The gunsmothing program is still in session and not in jeopardy of shutting down. Mostly because of the sensibility of the victim of the accidental discharge.
It is an AMAZING school that should not be tainted by this incident/freak accident. It could have been much worse but no life was lost which is all that matters.
I hope this clarifies the situation for any of you who have read/ heard about this and does not dissuade anyone from attending this amazing program. It is one of 5 hands on gunsmithing schools left in america and shoud be here to stay.
Again, I hope this clears up any rumors or heresay that may have been started about the incident/program.
Spencer
And as to the accidental discharge in class:
I was 5 feet away from the student who took the bullet. It was a ricochet from a .45 1911 and was an fmj. I was one of the only people who actually saw the whole event happen. An older guy on the opposite side of the classroom had just recieved a bunch of dummy rounds to function test his 1911 project and somehow, he managed to get a live round mixed in with the dummy rounds andwhile he was testing the trigger, he fired a shot at the ground and that shot hit my friend in the back. I will not give names. Everybody was in disbelief. My friend didnt even know he hadgeen hit until he feelt a small pain in his back and proceeded to feel his back with his hand which is when he accidentally touched the wound and ran out of the room, stating "o **** i just got shot!" the teacher immediatly called 911 and got an ambulance and police there right away. He was rushed to the hospital and life flighted to a hhospital in reno because the hospital in susanville does not have a trauma center. After medical imaging, doctors deemed it was just a flesh wound and that he would be fine and didnt need surgery and left the bullet in his back. My friend returned to school the next day an walked in on his own two feet.
As to the shooter:
He was an older man and was in complet disbelief that he had just shot somebody and began to panic. He proceeded to disassemble his 1911 because of his disbelief. While we were waiting for news and instructions on what to do he came up to me and asked me how my friend was doing. He had a pale look on his face and looked like he was in panic. After we had all been instructed to leave the classroom by local police, he (the shooter) proceeded to have a minor cardiac infarction due to his state of panic and shock and was also taken to the hospital.
Both people survived the ordeal and my friend decided it wasnt worth pressing charges over a complete accident, which not only saved the shooter, but probably the entire gunsmithing program. For an accidental shooting, tis was as "minor" as it could be.
I volunteered to give a witness statement to the police because i was the only person who saw where the shot came from and also had the victim in my line of sight. 2 other students gave witness statements based on the sounds they heard via the gunshot but admitted to not actually seeing it happen.
As to firearm safety in the classroom:
Yes this was extremely disturbing and could have killed anyone in the class. My teacher pointed out to me that less than an inch of difference in the directon the gun was pointed, and it could hav been me or any of the other students around us.
What was even more disturbing to me was that we were ALL working on 1911's that day, and most of the class was made up of COPS. Not just the fact that they were LEO's, but the fact that some of them were actually carryig LOADED .45 1911's in the classroom even though they were also working on .45 1911's in the class. And almost as disturbing as that, only a few of us (including me) instantly knew it was a gunshot at the time it happened... The cops were looking around as if they had never heard a gunshot indors before, even the ones that were previously boasting about firefights and narc operations and such.
This exposed another issue in the classroom, CCW holders carrying loaded firearms in class (all of which were LEO's of some sort). There was supposed to be NO LIVE AMMO in ANY part of the machine shop or gunsmithing classrooms, other than the teachers office to check in for test firing in the hog.
The head of the gunsmithing program had to rewrite and amend the safety rulesof theentire gunsmithing department because of this incedent and has since made the school sawr or the students and teachers alike.
I had to leave the 2 year program 2 weeks into the startt o the first semester to get a surgery unrelated to the shooting incident. The gunsmothing program is still in session and not in jeopardy of shutting down. Mostly because of the sensibility of the victim of the accidental discharge.
It is an AMAZING school that should not be tainted by this incident/freak accident. It could have been much worse but no life was lost which is all that matters.
I hope this clarifies the situation for any of you who have read/ heard about this and does not dissuade anyone from attending this amazing program. It is one of 5 hands on gunsmithing schools left in america and shoud be here to stay.
Again, I hope this clears up any rumors or heresay that may have been started about the incident/program.
Spencer
Last edited:
eek
