Les Jones

Guns > Fatal Shooting Reported at Guncraft Sports (Updated)

There's a report of a fatal shooting at the Guncraft Sports pistol range in Knoxville:

September 03, 2003 12:55 PM - FATAL SHOOTING AT GUN RANGE: Knox County deputies confirm that a person has been shot to death at Guncraft Sports on Dutchtown Road in west Knox County. Crime scene investigators and detectives were called to the scene around 10:30. There's no word yet on whether the shooting was accidental or deliberately self-inflicted.

Guncraft is the range where I shoot, and is about half a mile from where I work.

A FEW MINUTES LATER: I drove down to Guncraft at 1:19. There were five Sheriff's department vehicles and a video cameraman on the scene.

UPDATE: The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that it was an apparent suicide:

A woman rented a handgun Wednesday at a West Knox County firing range and apparently fatally shot herself in the head, authorities said.

Knox County Sheriff's Office Capt. Larry Hunter said authorities were alerted at 10:48 a.m. that a woman was shot at Guncraft Sports Inc., 10737 Dutchtown Road.

Hunter said the woman, who had been in the gun store in the past, rented a pistol and proceeded to the indoor firing range. As at least two other people shot weapons on the range, the woman apparently shot herself in the head.

Hunter said detectives intended to review a videotape of the range shooters to ascertain if the woman shot herself. The Sheriff's Office did not release the woman's identity, but the Toyota Tercel she drove to the firing range bore a Knox County license plate.

Bob Wiest, co-owner of Guncraft Sports, said he had never had a customer commit suicide in the 56 years the business has operated.