By Roger Lanse

Silver City Police Department officers were dispatched to a reported shooting at Big O Tire, 3082 32nd Street Bypass, on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. When officers arrived ,they found a 25-year-old male victim lying on the ground on his back, outside the building, at the north end of the parking lot, with another male rendering aid. An officer took on the rendering of aid and when he asked the victim what happened, the "very pale" victim, according to an SCPD report, lifted his shirt to reveal an open wound to his lower right stomach area. A witness told the officer that the victim had accidentally shot himself with a shotgun, later determined to be a 12-gauge Maverick Model 88. The officer did not find an exit wound although the victim's back was heavily bruised, the report said.

According to the report, Silver City Fire Department Rescue arrived on scene and began to treat the victim. He was then transported to Gila Regional Medical Center by GRMC ambulance. The medical condition of the victim is not known, except, according to SCPD, he is still in a medical facility.

None of the witnesses interviewed actually saw what happened, but one, sitting in his vehicle next to the victim's pickup, stated he heard the victim's front driver's side door open and then heard a loud bang and the victim screaming and jumping out of the pickup. Other witnesses, the report said, heard the gunshot but thought it was a tire exploding and went to see the cause of the noise.

The witnesses and the victim are all employees of Big O Tire, according to the report.