A "patriot" who brought a revolver to Gettysburg National Military Park Saturday amid rumors of desecration of memorials accidentally shot himself in the leg Saturday.
Benjamin Hornberger, 23, of Shippensburg, accidentally triggered the revolver, which was inside a leg holster, when he temporarily rested the bottom of his flag pole against the holster, according to witnesses. Park police were nearby when the shooting occurred and officers quickly applied a tourniquet that may have saved the man's life, said Sgt. Anna Rose, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Park Police.
A tourniquet type device covered the wound on the man's left thigh as he was loaded into an ambulance. He talked with paramedics and seemed in good spirits. The gun then went off a second time about 1 p.m. when police were trying to unload the weapon.
The gun was pointed at the ground in a field north of Meade's Headquarters along the west side of Taneytown Road. A PennLive reporter witnessed the second shot, which occurred as visitors to the park milled nearby.
Officers said the gun was "bad" and they had a hard time getting the rounds out of the chamber. After they forced all of the rounds out of the revolver, they secured the gun.
"Bad" gun? I thought that guns could never be good nor bad, and were simply tools that were only dangerous in the hands of criminals?
At least that's what the NRA keeps telling us.
I know people are ready to mock this young man but I think he was very brave to shoot himself as a warning to those that may have wanted to desecrate those monuments that they could be next.
Just as soon as he returned from the hospital that is.
"Y'all stay away from them monument things. I'm going to get this here looked at and then I will be right back to shoot myself in my other leg if I see anybody who starts to look like they are preparing to do any desecrating."
"Other self-described patriots nearby said they had just talked to the man who was injured and that he came by himself to the park because of the planned demonstrations. He was not part of any specific group, but was just there as a patriot, they said.
ReplyDeleteThe demonstrations were situated in a different part of the park than the reenactments Saturday.
Dozens of self-described Patriots came to the park about noon Saturday after hearing rumors that Antifa protesters might crash the park's events and try to desecrate memorials. Members of Antifa caused a ruckus in Harrisburg recently at an Anti-Sharia rally and one member was arrested for swinging a wooden pole with a nail attached at a police horse.
The rumors on Saturday appeared to be just that: rumors, as no Antifa members were seen at Gettysburg park Saturday.
Instead, there were dozens of men in camouflage outfits, some carrying long rifles or handguns or both, milling about the park holding large American flags. They walked outside of the perimeter of the fenced-in officially-designated demonstration areas, which were nearly empty all day.
A handful of members from the Real 3 % Risen group sat in one fenced area wearing Confederate flag hats and t-shirts while a lone man with a sign aligning the Confederate flag with slavery and racism sat alone in another fenced area."
-----
Because 'Murikkka.
This is a disgrace. Gettysburg is a civil shrine for all Americans where you can literally feel the battle that took place there. So many lives were lost, so much pain inflicted by gruesome injuries, so many families shattered forever. Visitors leave the battleground stunned at the mayhem done in such beautiful farm fields and silent with only the voices of the past in your ears.
DeleteWhy anyone would take a gun to such a place is something I'll never be able to understand.
Beaglemom
Of course he's from PA. At least he didn't murder an innocent child during a "gun safety" lecture.
ReplyDeleteI love America, and you, Jesse, for bringing this example of the least of us forward.
ReplyDeleteO/T What is this crap about Richard Engel's special series replacing Rachel Maddow on MSNBC?
ReplyDeleteHelp! Anybody got info? She is the top-rated reporter of all the news channels. WTF is going on at MSNBC? Lost their minds??????????????
Personally, as a progressive liberal, I am not a fan of Rachel.
DeleteI don't watch her but I just googled and she's being replaced by some guy named Richard Engle on Fridays.
Deletehttp://deadline.com/2017/07/msnbc-rachel-maddow-richard-engel-on-assignment-1202123317/
The South will Rise Again, oh, wait, never mind.
ReplyDeleteDarwin Award winner. Too bad the first responders were there.
ReplyDeleteAnd remember, if he were black or Latino, they would have put that tourniquet around his neck.