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‘The Gun Didn’t Kill My Boy, I Did’: Florida Father Blames Himself After Accidentally Shooting 14-Year-Old Son At Gun Range

By Angelica N. Sumter
Published on: 21:06 PST, Jul 5, 2016

A Florida father is blaming himself after accidentally shooting his 14-year-old son Stephen Brumby at a gun range, saying “the gun didn’t kill my son, I did.”

According to WTSP, on Sunday, July 3, William Clayton Brumby, 64, of Sarasota, took his family to the High Noon Gun Range located at 4583 Bee Ridge Road, which is described as “possibly being one of the safest indoor shooting ranges ever designed.”

However, at approximately 3:15 p.m., things took a turn for the worse when William, who was shooting in the last lane with a wall to his right, fired a.22 semi-automatic pistol and it ricocheted off the wall, falling into his shirt.

The “super-hot ejected casing” caused William to have a knee jerk reaction, accidentally firing the.22 semi-automatic pistol into the ceiling, which ricocheted again, but this time, the shot hit his teen son.

Emergency services quickly responded to the gun range shooting and discovered the Florida boy unresponsive at the scene. Paramedics rushed Stephen to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where hospital staff tried desperately to save his life, but he later succumbed to his injuries.

William’s 24-year-old son, David, who witnessed his father accidentally shoot Stephen at the gun range, told reporters that his father is taking the death of his son extremely hard. He went on to say that the family has “called for grief counselors” to help cope with the tragic accident.

“He wanted to take us to the shooting range to spend time with us, but also teach us how to be a man,” David said. “How to protect the family when it needed to be protected. It was just a complete freak accident. I cried so much yesterday that my eyes were stinging.”

CBS News reported that the father of the teen was killed in a gun range shooting spoke out after the tragedy and stated that he would often take his children to the gun range because he and his wife Elizabeth “wanted their kids to be aware of guns. I wanted them to be comfortable around them and understand them.”

Although William is devastated over the gun range shooting that ended his son’s life, he told reports that he has “accepted his responsibility in Stephen’s death, stating that “the gun didn’t kill my boy. I did.”

“Every round in the gun is your responsibility. When it fires you need to stand to account for it. That’s what I’ve spent the last two days doing, accounting for my operating error.”

He went on to say that his son’s shooting death did not change his opinion about guns. William will continue to have guns in his home and “use them for self-defense of the house and family.”

After the father accidentally shot his teen son to death at a Sarasota gun range, the co-owner of High Noon Gun Range, John Buchan, was visibly upset over the incident. He said, “The worst possible thing that could possibly happen, happened. All of our thoughts and prayers are with the family. There are things that affect you. This did.”

However, a Go Fund Me page was created for 14-year-old Stephen Brumby, who was accidentally shot by his father at a gun range. On the site, it states that the teen was “the fourth of seven children, who was “described as a meteor that couldn’t be contained by his family or anyone that knew him. He loved fishing, tennis, music, archery, and knife throwing.”

“He had an insatiable appetite to learn and was constantly sharing his wisdom with those around him. He was passionate about his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and dedicated his life to sharing his hope with everyone he met.”

The family’s goal was to raise $10,000 for the teen’s funeral expenses, but thus far they have amassed nearly $30,000 in donations.

[Image via Getty Images / Scott Olsen]

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