Man was ‘popping off’ rounds to celebrate New Year’s Day when he fatally shot girlfriend, Cleveland police say

Ruthanne

Ruthanne

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https://www.cleveland19.com/2020/01...fatally-shot-girlfriend-cleveland-police-say/
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Illegal celebratory gunfire turned deadly just after midnight on New Year’s Day, according to Cleveland police.
Detectives are investigating the death of a 31-year-old woman who was shot in the 5900 block of Merrill Avenue.
Officers responded just after midnight on New Year’s Day and found the woman with a gunshot wound.

She later died at MetroHealth Hospital.
While investigating, police learned the victim’s 38-year-old boyfriend was “popping off” rounds to celebrate the start of 2020. At some point, the woman was shot.

Police arrested the suspect at the scene. His name has not been released at this time.
Homicide detectives are continuing to investigate the incident.

The Merrill Avenue shooting is one of 11 shootings that occurred in a nine-hour timespan on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. A total of 13 people were shot.

This is a pretty sad way to start 2020.
 

They fire off rounds at midnight to celebrate the New Year in my area, too. At the very least, it terrifies pets...and as what goes up comes down, I've read accounts of innocent people being struck by spent rounds on their descent... 😕
 
We definitely have that all over Chicago area. I personally witnessed it when living in the city. What has happened here is that people have been injured by bullets fired in the air, then coming down with enough force to penetrate.
 
I doubt it was accidental. He probably planned to kill his girlfriend & used the occasion to make it appear accidental.
Much like some parents who leave their baby in a hot car & claim they "forgot."
(In the case below, the parents--unaware that they were being taped in the police interrogation room--discuss it. The mother says, "Don't worry, honey...they can't prove it....they'll think it's an accident") People who try to get away with this are incredibly stupid. They haven't heard of DNA, evidence, parking-lot cameras, or video in a police interrogation room. This "father" has a face to match his brain:
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/h...-ross-harris-sentenced-life-son-s-hot-n692086
 
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I agree it must have been raining bullets at the time. People here have been doing that for years, but never was anyone struck by bullets dropping out of the air. Most local, accidental shooting deaths were due to Dad cleaning his weapon in the kitchen, then trying out the trigger action thinking it wasn't loaded.
 
I’m so glad that type of thing doesn’t happen here. It’s plain illegal and I’ve never known or heard of anyone doing it. It’s the ultimate in stupid: lets get drunk, celebrate and fire our guns randomly 🤦‍♀️ 🤯
 
Judycat said:
I agree it must have been raining bullets at the time. People here have been doing that for years, but never was anyone struck by bullets dropping out of the air. Most local, accidental shooting deaths were due to Dad cleaning his weapon in the kitchen, then trying out the trigger action thinking it wasn't loaded.
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The article didn't reveal where she was shot. I doubt the boyfriend was firing into the air; if he was, the bullet could only have struck her on the top of her head. More likely, he just shot her from the front & called it an "accident."
Re: "Dad cleaning his weapon, then trying out the trigger action," just a FYI, that explanation of "I was cleaning my gun & it went off" is pure fiction because it is impossible. In order to clean a gun, the chamber has to be empty. If a round is in the chamber, it's impossible to get a cleaning rod (or anything else) into the chamber because the ammo takes up all the space. Here are a revolver's chambers with spent cases in them:
revolver handgun with fired 9mm cartridges in cylinder - Stock Photo

And here is an auto pistol's chamber with a round in it: (you don't have to be knowledgeable about firearms to see that it is impossible to clean a loaded gun.) It is impossible to run a cleaning rod, brush, cleaning patches, etc. into the chamber when there is ammo in it.
closeup of a bullet in the chamber of a handgun - Stock Photo
 
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Catlady said:
Here is an article about Shannon Smith, the 14 year old girl killed by a falling bullet in 2000, that became "Shannon's Law". The bullet hit her on the head.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon's_law_(Arizona)
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I'm all for such a law. BUT the article doesn't say she was killed by a falling bullet; it says she was killed by a stray bullet that hit her in the head; not necessarily on the head (which implies the top of the head).
I've seen morons on New Year's Eve fire a gun horizontally at an upward angle, thinking it was safe because of the angle. Such fools are probably not aware that bullets don't travel in a straight line & then just fall safely to the ground; they travel in an arc (like a rainbow) & begin to drop lower & lower as the distance increases, still at deadly velocity. That's why I wish they wouldn't say "Don't fire guns into the air." They should say "Don't fire guns AT ALL."
The diagram below shows a bullet's path (called the "Trajectory.") You can see how an ignorant person can aim at an upward angle, thinking the bullet will go harmlessly over a mountain, but someone standing in their yard several hundred yards away will be in danger when the bullet drops:

301-325-WSM-Trajectory.jpg
 
StarSong said:
I don't understand why people would shoot off live rounds to celebrate 4th of July, New Year's, or other event.
The idiocy displayed by our species can be nothing short of astonishing.
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Holidays become an excuse to be really stupid. Look at what drunk drivers do - all year; not just on New Years. Warnings don't help that situation either.
 
win231 said:
Holidays become an excuse to be really stupid. Look at what drunk drivers do - all year; not just on New Years. Warnings don't help that situation either.
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It's really sad that people continue to behave so stupidly with guns that can kill someone in an instant. They should not be firing guns where people are around AT ALL!
 
Catlady said:
Here's another article about the Ohio shooting. Says here he was reloading his gun when he shot his girlfriend in the chest. He was drunk, I don't know about her. And, Win, you were right about Shannon, I went and reread the article, she was shot in the head by a ''stray bullet''.

https://www.cleveland.com/crime/202...iring-celebratory-gunshots-new-years-day.html
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I guess it's an updated story. So very sad, now he has to live with that forever...so sad.

He Had been popping off the bullets outside probably and must have come in to reload and shot her..my guess.
 
Ruthanne said:
I guess it's an updated story. So very sad, now he has to live with that forever...so sad.

He Had been popping off the bullets outside probably and must have come in to reload and shot her..my guess.
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It sounds, from the article right under the house photo, that they were both shooting, "accidentally shot her in the chest as they fired celebratory shots "
 
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One stupid question for @win231 or anyone that knows about guns (I've never had one). Just my cat curiosity.

I remember reading eons ago that when a gun is wet or after it has gotten wet, that it won't fire. Yet, in movies they show them firing guns that were just in a body of water. So, what is the truth?
 
Catlady said:
Here's another article about the Ohio shooting. Says here he was reloading his gun when he shot his girlfriend in the chest. He was drunk, I don't know about her. And, Win, you were right about Shannon, I went and reread the article, she was shot in the head by a ''stray bullet''.

https://www.cleveland.com/crime/202...iring-celebratory-gunshots-new-years-day.html
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That's possible - when loading a round into the chamber of an auto pistol with a finger on the trigger
Catlady said:
One stupid question for @win231 or anyone that knows about guns (I've never had one). Just my cat curiosity.

I remember reading eons ago that when a gun is wet or after it has gotten wet, that it won't fire. Yet, in movies they show them firing guns that were just in a body of water. So, what is the truth?
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A modern gun will fire when it's wet, as long as the inside of the cartridge is dry. It doesn't matter if the gun or the outside of the ammo is wet. Unless the ammo has been under water for many years, it will fire because the primer (which ignites the powder) is very tightly fitted into the primer pocket at the back & the front of the case (shell) is tightly crimped around the bullet. Additionally, to prevent water (or anything else) from contaminating the ammo, most manufacturers use a lacquer sealant around the primer pocket and asphalt at the front of the cartridge. In fact, manufacturers frequently demonstrate how reliable their guns are by dropping them into a muddy lake, then retrieving them & firing.
The primer creates a spark that travels through the flash hole & ignites the powder, which creates the gases that force the bullet out. If there is no water inside the cartridge, it will fire. You can see that it is very unlikely that any water would get in, since everything is sealed.

Image result for Components of a Cartridge

There was a time in the past when getting a gun wet could render it temporarily inoperable, but that was back in the days of black powder and flintlock guns. The gunpowder was not contained inside a watertight cartridge in those days and if the gun got wet the powder would get wet, and wet gunpowder simply will not ignite."
Here is someone testing the reliability of a wet gun - similar to U.S. Army tests: (skip to 2:52 if you just want to see the water test)
 

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