By James Eng, NBC News
A Texas woman aiming for a pesky skunk that was feeding off cat food bowls outside her home wound up accidentally shooting her husband when the bullet ricocheted off the porch and struck him in the abdomen, a sheriff said.
The accident happened Sunday night at the family’s home in a subdivision south of College Station, Texas, Brazos County Sheriff Christopher Kirk said.
“Apparently they feed their cats out of bowls outside the back of the porch. They had a skunk that had been coming up there feeding. They decided they wanted to dispatch that skunk,” Kirk told NBC News on Tuesday.
The wife went out to retrieve her .45-caliber handgun, which was legally permitted, from her purse in an office in an attached garage. The husband stayed inside the home.
The wife shot at the skunk but missed. The bullet ricocheted off the porch, penetrated the back door of the home and struck her husband in the abdomen. The bullet did not damage any vital organs and wound up lodged in the hip area, the sheriff said.
The husband was airlifted to a hospital in Houston, where he was treated and released on Monday.
Kirk said investigators interviewed the husband and wife separately and their stories were consistent that the shooting was an unfortunate accident.
“She was very concerned about her husband and certainly having created that situation,” the sheriff said of the wife.
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The couple’s names were not released. Kirk said they were in their early 50s.
The couple’s seven children were also in the home at the time but none witnessed the accident and none were hurt, the sheriff said.
Kirk said investigators will present their findings to the prosecutor to see if any laws were broken.
“Discharging a firearm in that situation was probably not good judgment,” Kirk said. “It certainly was reckless but I don’t know if anyone would be served if any charges were to be filed.”
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Kirk said even the skunk cooperated with the investigation.
“He actually came back while our investigators were at the scene and tried to feed again off the cat bowls. We chased it off,” he said.
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