BILLINGS – A 47-year-old Billings man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg early Tuesday that police said was an accidental shooting. But that’s not how he initially reported the incident.
In a press release, Sgt. Bret Becker said a woman called police at about 2 a.m. to report her boyfriend had been shot and she was driving him to a hospital. The woman was “evasive with her report and gave few details,” the press release states.
Officers met the couple at the hospital and found the man, whose name was not released, with a single gunshot wound to the upper thigh. He was uncooperative with officers, the press release states, and wouldn’t say what happened other than he was “jumped.”
A bullet hole was found in the car door of the vehicle the couple arrived in, and after more questioning the woman said the man had accidentally shot himself while in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. The gun had been tossed out of the vehicle in the area of Wicks Lane and St. Andrews Drive.
The gun was located and recovered by officers.
Police determined the shooting was accidental and there is no threat to the public, Becker said in the press release. The man was in stable condition and his injuries were not considered life-threatening.
