Local
Bullet That Hit O’Fallon Lifeguard May Have Come From Target Practice
By Bob Hudson
Jul 27, 2010 - 2:59:48 PM

A recent incident illustrates something very common-sense that all shooters need to remember. That is, never shoot a gun into the air and make sure you check what’s behind the target you’re shooting at. Police seized rifles after they were tipped off that five teens were target shooting near the Twin Chimneys subdivision of O'Fallon, less than a mile from the  pool where a 16-year-old lifeguard on duty was grazed by a stray bullet on Sunday

Four .22 caliber rifles were seized from two 18-year-old boys and a 17-year-old boy from O’Fallon, an 18-year-old girl from St Peters, and an 18-year-old boy from Warrenton, who were all firing the weapons into a hill south of the swimming pool. The teens won’t get the rifles back soon. Authorities will run ballistic tests, which could take several weeks, and that information will be forwarded to the St Charles County Prosecutor’s office for review. The lifeguard, whose identity was not released, didn't know what hit her. The bullet grazed the back of her upper leg and landed nearby while she was working at the pool at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, according to pool management and police. She later found out it was a bullet. She was treated at a local hospital for what police said were minor injuries.

Elsewhere, a man with a concealed carry permit,  waiting in line at a St. Peters gas station accidentally shot himself and a man in front of him when his concealed gun fell out of his pocket at about 6:30 a.m. Monday in the Phillips 66 station near Highway 94 and Harvester Road. Police spokesperson, Officer Melissa Doss, says the first man was pulling something out of a pocket when the small revolver fell out of a holster inside the pocket and dropped on the ground. The gun fired, grazing the leg of the gun's owner and traveled through the wrist of the man in front of him and lodged in that man's side. The man he shot was in stable condition.