Gun range suicides leave owners, families at a loss
By Janie Bryant, The Virginian-Pilot | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
That's where he shot himself in the head. He was 22.
The 18-year-old rented a military-style rifle and entered the shooting range at Superior Pawn and Gun on
He spent at least an hour firing downrange, the owner of the business said.
Then, with the last round of ammunition, he turned the rifle toward his head and fired.
The suicides happened 10 months and 18 miles apart.
Gun sales require an
More than half of the 39,000-plus people who died by suicide in
Gun shop owners said such occurrences are rare. Still, gun range owners train employees to be on watch for behavior that tells them something isn't quite right.
Sacks represented Brown's mother, who argued the gun shop should be held responsible for his death.
Brown had been depressed and had sought treatment. His mother,
The Superior shops are independent of one another but have owners with family connections.
Sacks reviewed the case and flagged details that he said should have raised concerns.
The lawyer told a
Also, Brown went to his car to get identification but returned without it.
According to the police report, the store employee helping Brown that day used his car keys as collateral and rented him the gun.
Reached by phone,
If he had no idea his son would take his life, he said in court, how could the gun shop owner know.
He had graduated from high school with four years of JROTC. He participated in the school's
He loved cars and airplanes and military history. He was involved in church and liked fishing and working on muscle cars with his father.
He had planned to enter the
"He was definitely looking forward to it," his father said.
McNeil has not been able to bring himself to watch the store's video of his son's final moments.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster," he said.
Part of him wonders whether it was an accident. Had his son turned the gun around to check a malfunction?
Other times, McNeil thinks, maybe his son was worried about his father's response to a car accident he had been in the night before. Or feared the ticket that came with it would keep him out of the
His son left the ticket, the title for the new car he had just totaled and the car keys on the counter as if he wanted his dad to see it when he got home.
McNeil went to the gun range the next day. He just wanted to be where his son had spent his last moments.
Josh Longachre, vice president of
The first, a military woman, was a regular customer. That day, her only concern seemed to be getting a military discount on the cost of the range.
Neither she nor McNeil seemed nervous or upset, he said.
McNeil was clean-cut and well-spoken, Longacher said, a "super nice kid."
Longacher said that he hates what McNeil's family has gone through -- and that it happened at his business.
"Every gun range has had suicides," he said.
It happened at Bob's Gun Shop in
At Bob's, the staff relies on common sense and observation, Marcus said.
But, he concedes, no one can predict when a gun shop customer might be contemplating suicide.
"For a lot of people, once they've made up their mind, they start acting calm," Marcus said.
Longacher does not discount liability concerns.
"Obviously, we have insurance," he said.
They do everything they can to prevent such incidents, he said. Customers agree to range rules. Employees observe customers closely for the smell of alcohol or other troubling signs. Any unease means they decline the customer.
His insurance company, Longacher said, is his best safeguard.
Representatives regularly conduct safety audits to make sure he and his employees are
doing everything right, he said.
He welcomes the monitoring.
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