https://www.click2houston.com/news/life-flight-sent-to-gun-range-in-cypress-after-shooting?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=snd&utm_campaign=kprc2

Article says it appears to be an accident. Interested to hear the details on this one when they come out. Hope the guy is ok.

public ranges always scare me a bit, but I'm even more concerned when I shoot at an indoor range. Lots of people with minimal experience at those indoor ranges.

Life Flight does not sound good, hope he recovers.

HW can be a zoo on the weekends, lots of people with stations very close. That should not have been an issue at 9 AM on a Tuesday.

My wife and I were there maybe 15 years ago when that crusty old lady worked the desk. I have heard that she is now passed. A young (late 20s) couple walked in, the woman carrying a semi auto pistol, flat, in the palm of her hand. We were at the front desk checking in and the barrel was aimed straight at us.

The old lady threw a fit. The young woman said, "but it's jammed. That's the problem, it won't fire."

What the old lady said would not make it past the forum filters, but that's the kind of stupidity you can get at a range.

I've been muzzle swept before a couple of times by idiots at the gun range.

That being said, for a while there when I was a kid, my nickname was "Danger Zone" any time we were out shooting B.B. guns. I wasn't known for being particularly careful until I had it drilled into me enough.

Article headline updated - did not make it.

Apparently an employee cleaning a gun

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HARRIS COUNTY, Texas -- The Harris County Sheriff's Office says an apparent accidental shooting has been reported at a gun range in Cypress.

The shooting call was placed shortly after 9 a.m. at the Hot Wells Shooting Range on Highway 290 near Barker Cypress.

According to the sheriff's office, an employee was cleaning a gun when it went off. The bullet went through a wall and then a window, striking a man in another part of the range.

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articles like this are why I am so thankful we have family land to shoot at. I avoid public ranges the best I can even though I usually end up at one once or twice a year. Too many negligent and braindead people to begin with, and then theres always a chance for a freak accident like it sounds like here. Will be curious to see what their investigation yields and if they find the range employee at fault.

If you are ever at American shooting center at George Bush Park, look up at the roof while at the firing line. So many bullet holes from idiots. It's amazing that more accidental shooting don't happen at public ranges.

What the hell? I dont mean to make light of someone getting killed but isn't step one in cleaning a gun literally "1. Unchamber any round and remove any magazine." ?

agfan2013 said:

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articles like this are why I am so thankful we have family land to shoot at. I avoid public ranges the best I can even though I usually end up at one once or twice a year. Too many negligent and braindead people to begin with, and then theres always a chance for a freak accident like it sounds like here. Will be curious to see what their investigation yields and if they find the range employee at fault.

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I don't see how the range employee isn't at fault here. He was apparently attempting to clean a loaded gun.

Man that's bad if it really was an employee.

1) you would think the employees would be the "safest" people there, but obviously not

2) the family of the deceased will probably sue the range into oblivion. I'm not saying they would be wrong for doing it, but it sure would suck to lose a local range.

Exactly.

And forgive me if I sound a bit harsh but the employee is absolutely at fault here. While the discharge may be accidental it's negligent to not check and clear multiple times before cleaning.

Scariest experience I had was at Hotwells. Shooting some skeet and got paired with 3 asian teens with a mossberg 500 tactical. Not a single one of them had shot a gun before. And not one mounted the butt to their shoulder prior to firing. I looked at the guy working the pullera and he said I can just go back and get a few free rounds at another setup.

Just saw a news report that it was a range employee cleaning a gun that fired and killed a man in the next room.

drummer0415 said:

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1) you would think the employees would be the "safest" people there, but obviously not

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Familiarity breeds complacency, complacency leads to bad things happening. Doesn't matter if we're talking guns, heavy equipment, whatever.

I'd rather take a newbie than someone who's been a "gun owner for 40 years and knows safety" to the range 100% of the time. A newbie is going to listen and be very safety conscious. Someone who thinks they know what they're doing because they've done it 100 times is going to make assumptions/take shortcuts that can be dangerous.

It's something I have to work very hard at not doing myself.

4 simple rules. You have to blatantly break at least 2 for an accident to happen. Dumb **** that did this needs some time in a FPITA.

One of my sales guys had plans to take customers there this morning but one of the guys got sick and had to cancel. Is this the first major incident at that range?

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1) you would think the employees would be the "safest" people there, but obviously not

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I shot skeet leagues with some TexAggers as recently as three years ago. From my experience, the 18-25 year old 'kids' working the skeet leagues were incredibly safe and kept an eye on newcomers and were reliable at keeping the loading of shells confined to the shooter's box.

That being said, I've only not shot with TexAg skeet folks about 2 or 3 times. And all the guys on the team were very trustworthy and safe.

Except AggieClays. /sarcasm

This is crazy and so sad. Can't imagine anyone just walking though a parking lot and getting shot with a deer rifle.

agdaddy04 said:

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One of my sales guys had plans to take customers there this morning but one of the guys got sick and had to cancel. Is this the first major incident at that range?

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I would be shocked if that were the case. Its been there forever. I remember going there in the 70's as a Boy Scout and it was old then.

Oh I definitely remember going there in the 80's. Didn't remember hearing about any fatalities though.

Tragic.

We lost a member of this forum in an accidental discharge when cleaning his gun. I remember that every time.

I've only been to a public range twice and it was Hot Wells both times. That's all it took for me to swear off going to a public range ever again.

First trip after having the pistol range to myself for a bit, a fellow came up next to me was trying to figure out how to work his new Glock. He racked the slide with a finger on the trigger firing a round off inches in front of his foot. There was no SO present, I was done shooting so I left for the day.

I went one more time. This time there was a high school kid nearby as an SO. Three fellows next to me had two very nice custom 1911's and they repeatedly kept pointing them in my direction. The SO told them 3 times to stop but I'm not sure they understood as they never stopped and were communicating with each other in Spanish. The SO then left, leaving me alone with them on the range, and those three dumb ****s still pointing their guns over at me so I left again, never to return to a public shooting range.

I only go to HW when I don't want to drive to my other one I frequent.

The clientele at Hot Wells ranges from the new shooter all the way to the expert but unfortunately there are plenty in between who simply practice bad form and worse habits.

In my experiences with the staff, they were polite and professional but I never saw them with a weapon in hand.


This is a tragic accident that is wholly preventable. It's even worse in my mind that it was an employee who failed.

I'm pretty sure they have had at least one suicide with a rental gun, but have never heard of any accidental deaths before now.

And to reiterate the same point brought by other posters, this is exactly why I joined a private range. I know that I pay a premium for it, but I consider it significantly safer.

drummer0415 said:

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And to reiterate the same point brought by other posters, this is exactly why I joined a private range. I know that I pay a premium for it, but I consider it significantly safer.

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I've seen some real stupid crap at private ranges too.

BenderRodriguez said:

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drummer0415 said:

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And to reiterate the same point brought by other posters, this is exactly why I joined a private range. I know that I pay a premium for it, but I consider it significantly safer.

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I've seen some real stupid crap at private ranges too.

Private range I go to you get your own shooting bay. They can do all the stupid crap they want as there's 12 feet of dirt between me and them.

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I still don't understand accidental gun discharges WHILE cleaning. No ammunition should even be in the same room as the weapon when cleaning a gun.

crowman2010 said:

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I still don't understand accidental gun discharges WHILE cleaning. No ammunition should even be in the same room as the weapon when cleaning a gun.

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Multiple failures happened here.

1) Someone likely brought a gun to the shop for cleaning, repair work, whatever....loaded. Huge fail.

2) The employee who received the gun from the customer failed to make sure it was unloaded and safe.

3) The employee who was working on/cleaning the gun failed to make sure it was unloaded and safe

4) The employee working on the gun also failed to keep it pointed in a safe direction.

There were lots of opportunities for this to have been a cautionary tale instead of a tragic one. Multiple people failed to practice responsible gun safety.

Any recommendations for ranges on the NW side? HW is closest to me but I have bypassed more that once on a weekend due to the amount of people already there.

lexofer said:

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BenderRodriguez said:

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Private range I go to you get your own shooting bay. They can do all the stupid crap they want as there's 12 feet of dirt between me and them.

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You'd think so, right? My private range is similar, and I usually love it. Occasionally though, human stupidity trumps design.

I was in one such bay shooting, when a group of Mennonites (not code word for anything else, a bunch of young people in long beards and long skirts) pulled up to the bay next to me. I look over and notice they've set their target up at the front of the bay and are standing outside of the bay shooting into the bay. o.O

I wasn't in any immediate danger, but they found the only unsafe way I've ever seen to use a shooting bay short of climbing the walls for fun.

Paint for visualization:

Y'all must attract dumbs***s to y'all. I've been to public ranges a lot and don't recall noticing anything I felt unsafe about.