Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- In October 2016, two men were target shooting in rural New York. They were sighting in rifles for the upcoming deer season.
They could see about a thousand feet, but there was no obvious backstop on the flat ground. They had two .308 Winchester rifles, a Del-Ton AR, and a pistol. It was about 4 p.m.
Almost half a mile away, unseen, Kevin Flannery was mowing a lane on his property. A picture taken a year later shows tall ground cover on either side of the lane. Flannery could not be seen from the position of the shooters.
Flannery apparently moved in and out of the “beaten zone” of the rifle shooters as they zeroed in their rifles. The bullets traversed tall grass and weeds before reaching the lane Flannery was mowing.
Flannery’s mower, then Flannery were hit. Flannery was critically wounded. It took months for him to recovery after being hit with a high powered rifle round. He lost 40 pounds while recovering from surgery in the hospital.
PARMA, N.Y. (WROC-TV) – Police have arrested two suspects in relation to a shooting in Parma that happened on Tuesday.
Police responded around 4:45 p.m. to Moul Road for a report of a man who was shot in the abdomen while working on his property.
Police say as they responded, they could hear shots being fired in the distance. Deputies located the shooters, Ryan G. Pellman, 34, of Greece and Matthew E. Rodgers, 35, of Hilton in an area behind and to the west of North Avenue.
Pellman and Rodgers were allegedly shooting paper targets without the use of a backdrop.
Once the shooting had ceased, deputies located the victim, Kevin R. Flannery, 42, about 800 feet south of where they responded.
Pellman and Rodgers were indicted for assault and reckless endangerment by a grand jury in April of 2017.
In August 2017, Judge Alex Renzi of the State Supreme Court overturned the indictment. The charges were dismissed. The evidence did not meet the legal criteria for either crime.
A civil suit was filed by the Flannerys in November of 2017.
Kevin Flannery went through months of recovery. He came very close to dying. It was 10 months before he was able to return to work. Pellman and Rodgers have had to spend considerable resources on their defense. The legal expenses are likely to continue.
The shooters had no intention of hitting Flannery. They did not know he was there. They thought it was impossible their shots had hit anyone. Flannery was 2,300 feet away from the shooters, a little less than 800 yards. .308 rifles are routinely fired in thousand yard matches.
This accident occurred because the shooters did not understand the ballistics of their rifles. They assumed there was no one in the direction they were shooting. They did not ensure the bullets were hitting an adequate backstop. It was a nearly fatal mistake.
I suspect they have been regretting their decision for over a year.
Safety rules came about through long, hard experience. They exist for good reasons. Know your target, and what is behind your target.
2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
If they were shooting from prone & their target was a couple of feet off the ground then the bullet would still be rising out past 300 yds.
The other possibility is that the land fell away beyond their target, which would actually make more sense, as this would also preclude them being able to see anyone within the beaten zone of their shots.
The more I research this story the more questions I have. If the man was 800+ yards out the bullet drop (if zeroed for 100 yards) would be about 5 feet. Either they were shooting very high, zero was set well pat 100 yards (not stated in the story) or they shot him through the ground! Still stupid to not know what our backstop is, but way to many unknowns in the story.
Repo:
I wrote Alan says:
January 26, 2018 at 2:13 PM
It’s not the gun, it’s the idiot holding the gun.
To set your mind at ease, in no way could I be properly described as being Anti Gun or Pro Gun Control, as same is usually offered. It was, in this instance, as is usually the case, the fault of the person holding the firearm and nothing else.
Morons shooting AR based rifles have shut down access to more of acres of private land in central and eastern Washington than for any other reason. There seems to be a compelling need to see how fast they can unload a magazine full of ammo, many times with little regard to ricochets and what exacerbates the problem is they frequently are shooting ball ammo without regard to any backstop. I own AR’s and shoot and hunt with them so save the “scary black rifle” crap for late nights with like minded morons who like to toss around such canards as… Read more »
First thing they teach you is KNOW YOUR BACK STOP or don’t shoot.
Repo, you said it all. We all make mistakes at some point in our lives, some are just much worse than others. That said, no amount of money will make up for the hospital time, lost abilities, and mental anguish the unfortunate victim of these two men’s mistake. I’m speaking from personal experience. Twice in fairly recent history I have been victim of someone else’s mistake. Both times extremely tragically. First time approx 8 year “recovery” period, second time still working on recovery. Neither instance afforded me any financial recompense-everything beyond insurance coverage came out of my own pocket. After… Read more »
Jim:
The story does sound odd, but I wasn’t there. Speaking from personal experience, with the Model 70 Winchester Standard Target Rifle, shooting my own handloads at 600 yards, prone position, using a military sling and Redfield International Iron Sights, I could consistently hold inside the 10 ring elevationwise (12″ diameter). I could not shoot effectively at 1000 yards with the 308, others could. Essentially, I would not have fired with the 308 beyond 600 yards. DIfferent story with the 30-06. Re these guys, shooting without a proper backstop, one has to wonder.
No backstop is an absolute no no and very stupid as was proven by the fact that someone was hit a distance away and did nothing in connection. Bullets can travel for a long ways.
I do like Repo’s reply that a lot of people own a lot of things that can harm themselves and others. For anyone that would blame the gun, there is the answer.
The inattention of the shooters to important details, no backstop for the shots fired is unforgivable. They intended no harm, though they did great harm, the after effects of their carelessness is plainly beyond the pale.
Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2018/01/ny-parma-man-accidentally-shot-from-half-mile-away/#ixzz55JCyfO5Y
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Once the shooting had ceased, deputies located the victim, Kevin R. Flannery, 42, about 800 feet south of where they responded.
800 feet is not half a mile. so, was it 800ft or half a mile, 880 yards ? My previous comment is moot if it was only 800 feet away.