A Texas man accidentally shot a child while officiating a wedding in Lancaster County on Saturday, the sheriff’s office says.
Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said deputies were sent to a wedding at Hillside Events near Denton on a report of a gunshot wound.
Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention.
“He was going to fire in the air, and as he did that, it slipped and went off,” Houchin said.
The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue.
Says it was a homemade blank made from gunpowder and glue. Depends on the construction but the glue “bullet” (probably just a plug to keep the gunpowder in) should explode in the barrel and shoot out basically dust.
However you can’t guarantee the glue plug would fully disintegrate and at close range the debris can be moving fast enough to cause damage and can be hot enough to burn.