Texas official sentenced to probation for accidentally shooting grandson at Nebraska wedding

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Texas county commissioner will spend one year on probation for accidentally shooting his grandson during a Nebraska wedding he was officiating.

Michael Gardner, 63, of Odessa, Texas, was sentenced Monday for misdemeanor child abuse in the September 2023 shooting. His grandson, then 12, survived the shoulder wound.

“It’s something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life,” said Gardner, who was recently reelected as a county commissioner in Ector County in Texas.

The shooting happened when Gardner pulled out a revolver, intending to fire a blank round into the air to signal the start of the outdoor ceremony near the small town of Denton in southeastern Nebraska. But as he was cocking the gun’s hammer, it fired, hitting the now 13-year-old boy.

The wound measured about 8 centimeters long and 4 centimeters wide and extended deep into the boy’s muscle, causing significant tissue and muscle loss, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

Gardner had been officiating the wedding of his nephew at an outdoor venue about 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) southwest of the capital city of Lincoln. Gardner said he made the blank round himself, using an empty shell, some black gunpowder and hot glue to hold it together.

Gardner initially was charged with a felony count of second-degree assault, but he pleaded no contest to the reduced misdemeanor charge in July.

Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Eric Miller said he was horrified to see that someone would bring a gun in front of a crowd like that.

“I get this is not some shoot-up at the convenience store or anything like this,” he said. “But what he did was reckless behavior.”