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Man’s Home Damaged By Stray Shell Fired By Private Howitzer Owner

CREDIT: AP
CREDIT: AP

On Saturday, Oklahoma homeowner named Gene Kelley was startled by a loud crash inside his own home — and then discovered that it was caused by a 14.5″ long howitzer shell. The shell, according to a local news report, blew through an outside wall, hit the ceiling of his bedroom, and then damaged another wall. No one was hurt by the stray artillery shell.

The shell was fired from an antique artillery cannon at a gun show approximately three miles away. Nevertheless, the owner of the gun range where the howitzer was fired claims that the weapon was discharged safely — “It was not on a level plane, but on a downward trend, pointed downhill in the bottom of a valley . . . For that thing to rise and go far northwest of the range, it’s just unheard of.”

He added that this incident, where an artillery weapon designed to fire shells over long distances actually fired a shell over a very long distance, was a “freak accident because as far as the safety end of everything, we drill every one of our shooters before it ever begins.”

(HT: Travis Gettys)

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