The 12\u002Dyear\u002Dold boy was taken to Children\u0027s Hospital about an hour away in Omaha, and his injuries aren\u0027t life\u002Dthreatening
His plan involved shooting a blank from a revolver into the air to signal to the roughly 200 people gathered on Saturday that the outdoor ceremony, which he was officiating, was about to begin. But when Gardner cocked back the hammer of the gun, it slipped, and the homemade blank that he had used, which was closed off with glue, fired from the Pietta 1860 snub-nose revolver that he had borrowed, he said.
Houchin told The Post that Gardner’s decision to use glue in the homemade blank is probably what led to the grandson’s injury. Melissa Smith, co-owner of Hillside Events, the wedding venue where the accidental shooting took place, declined to comment. A spokesperson with Children’s Hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When Gardner realized he accidentally shot the boy in his left shoulder, guests jumped up immediately to assist the child, including Gardner’s brother-in-law, who is a paramedic, he said. The boy initially wanted to stay, saying, “No, Pop, I’m okay,” Gardner recalled. As the boy was being treated, Gardner somehow went back to officiating the wedding, with the bride seemingly unaware of what had happened, he said. Gardner later rode with his grandson in the ambulance to the hospital.
Houchin added, “Sometimes we get hunting accidents and things like that, and people get accidentally wounded that way. But not with a homemade blank at a wedding.” Houchin emphasized that in his 30 years with the sheriff’s office, he had “never seen a blank like this.”Gardner said he understands the shooting has put his political future in jeopardy. He knows he won’t be in office anymore if he’s convicted and said he won’t push back if it comes to that.