Man Mistakes Gun for Cigarette Lighter, Shoots Relative in Face
A man accidentally shot a relative in the jaw Thursday when he pulled the trigger of what he thought was a cute, gun-shaped cigarette lighter. It wasn’t.
The man was rifling through an old suitcase full of personal papers in the family home on Valerio Street when he found the small .22-caliber derringer, Sgt. Gary Patton said.
The shiny pistol was an older model gun, designed to fit into a belt buckle, Patton said. The man, who was not identified, believed it was a cigarette lighter, so he pulled the trigger, striking another family member who was standing nearby.
That man, also unidentified, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, but Patton said his injuries, though probably painful, did not seem severe.
Patton said police are treating the shooting as a simple accident.
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