14 DAY TRIAL // A man has accidentally shot himself while bowling in Jupiter, Florida, with a gun in his pocket. The weapon went off when touched by the bowling ball, reports say.
The unnamed man was bowling at Jupiter Lanes at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14 when he was shot.
Witnesses say that he had a gun in a pocket of his shorts when he started to play. He was shot in the leg, but he only sustained minor injuries.
"The guy just stepped up to bowl," witness Jim Miller tells WPBF in Florida.
"I think he hit his leg on his back swing," Miller describes.
He slipped and other bowlers suspect that the ball landed on the area where he was keeping the gun, at which point the weapon went off.
"The ball hit him in the leg, which triggered the revolver," detailed Mike Martin, who was present at the time of the incident.
Other patrons heard the gunshot, but wrote it off as noise made by a firecracker at first. They tried to locate the source of the bang and zeroed down on the victims who appeared hurt.
"Everybody kind of stopped. [...] We were way down on this end. Everybody was looking, and all of a sudden you can tell something wasn't right," Debra Dean mentions.
“I don't think anybody knew he had a gun in his pocket,” Steve Taylor comments.
The customer was seen limping back to his seat and holding his leg, and it became obvious that he had been shot.
Authorities are saying that he was fortunate and that his wounds were not life-threatening. He was transported to St. Mary's Medical Center where doctors checked out the injury.
The bullet was recovered on the floor of the bowling alley and police have ruled the shooting accidental.