My roommate shot himself

[greeneyed_Lady]

The fact that you were there and able to escort the children up and away from the scene is great. Kids take their cues from the people around them... and the last thing either the mom or dad needed was the kids freaking out seeing dad on the ground bleeding. You were calm, that probably helped the kids to be a bit more calm themselves.

As for moving? I can relate. The last apartment building I was in, there was a family of 4 that lived kitty-corner to me. Dad, mom, two children under the age of 3. One day close to Christmas the man took a shotgun and killed the children and the mom before turning it on himself. Wierd thing was that no one heard the shots, probably because it was near Christmas and people were either working, shopping or gone visiting family or friends. We smelled it on the 25th when we returned home, and on the 26th the hall and apartment was crawling with police. At that time I didn't know the details of why it happened, and had a lot of anxiety about living in the building on my own (my fiancee was gone for basic training and battle school)... I seriously thought about leaving. Ended up sticking it out until we got married (6-7 mo later) and then I left to be with him.

If you move you could move into somewhere better, but you could end up somewhere worse..

It might not hurt for you to speak with someone about your reaction. If you don't know where to go, contact the police department, they might have counselling for free (not sure how it works in the States).. or your dr might refer you to someone... you're new to Charlotte, might not have a dr.. but the local hospital might be able to help too. Start with the police department and see if they can make a recommendation on where to go for help.. hopefully free or low cost.

 

[Homburg]

Unfortunately I did once have an accidental discharge with a rifle while unloading it for cleaning. Mine was a component failure on an antique gun that let the trigger release but fortunately I never point a gun at something that I'd want to keep in one piece so the round went into the floor. So yeah, an accident with a gun can happen to anyone, even the experts have accidents.

Had this happen. Fortunately I was at the range and was getting ready to pull the trigger anyway, but you can bet your ass I dropped the magazine out, cleared the chamber, and put that piece away immediately. Once I got home, I disabled it completely. It is now a curio piece, and the owner is fine with that.

You can bet that this guy will never make this mistake again. Even unloaded guns to my mind are always loaded as too many times I've checked an "unloaded" weapon to find a round chambered, safety off and ready to fire.

Had this happen too. I had a .22 rifle in a gun rack on my wall in high school. Took it down one day to dust it and found the striker back and the safety off. I went to pull the trigger and stopped, as that was not safe gun handling. When I pulled the bolt back, I found a live round. Turns out a buddy of mine put a round in there "as a joke" when he'd handled it a few months back. Said "buddy" was never allowed in my house again and ceased to be considered a friend.

Being nervous around guns isn't necessarily a bad thing but being too nervous might be. One sure way to help control that is to take a firearm safety course and have a competent instructor at a firing range teach you how to shoot. Even if you don't like guns at all you will learn how to unload and safe a weapon, check it to see if it's loaded, etc... Dummy rounds could be used for that if you absolutely don't want to handle the live stuff.

This is incredibly good advice.

 

[DVS]

Thanks everyone for your support. I do tend to over think things.

I was asleep last night when the mom came home. I'm not sure if he came with or not. Last time I spoke with them, he was waiting to see if he needed surgery. If he did, then he was going to have to stay overnight, if not then they were probably going to send him home last night.

He explained to me what happened, but I don't remember most of the explanation, probably because I know nothing about guns, so the words kind of went in one ear and out of the other. Something about he had cleaned it and put it back together, then remembered he had forgotten to clean something inside and then something about the magazine and accidentally getting the trigger instead...

Anyway, I'm going to not dwell on this. If something hits me later, I will deal with it then. I really, really apreciate your responses and reassurance that my response was not totally out there and bizarre.

Hey man, relax. Maybe go cook something.

 

[graceanne]

Oh lord.

Boys and their toys.

See what happens when you bring up guns? All the gun-people come out and start discussing their guns and what they did with them and where they are now, and what kinds of guns they have/want/need/used to have.

Look what you started!

 

[cloud_leopard]

It might not hurt for you to speak with someone about your reaction. If you don't know where to go, contact the police department, they might have counselling for free (not sure how it works in the States).. or your dr might refer you to someone... you're new to Charlotte, might not have a dr.. but the local hospital might be able to help too. Start with the police department and see if they can make a recommendation on where to go for help.. hopefully free or low cost.

I think I'm ok. I guess it really isn't a problem for me now that it is a little more temporally distant. If I have trouble in the future though I can always check out the campus resources.

Hey man, relax. Maybe go cook something.

I would love to go cook things, but these people are a little less than thrilled about sharing their space, which is weird since they are renting space. If the guy had his way I would even have a mini fridge in my room so I wouldn't even need to share their fridge space. I imagine I can wear them down if I'm here long enough, lol.

Oh lord.

Boys and their toys.

See what happens when you bring up guns? All the gun-people come out and start discussing their guns and what they did with them and where they are now, and what kinds of guns they have/want/need/used to have.

Look what you started!

Sorry. Yeah, I did notice that. There do seem to be a fair amount of gun people, huh? I'll try hard not to make that mistake again. At least there better not be an opportunity for it...

 

[graceanne]

Sorry. Yeah, I did notice that. There do seem to be a fair amount of gun people, huh? I'll try hard not to make that mistake again. At least there better not be an opportunity for it...

Seriously.

If it happens again, you definitely need to find a different place.

 

[Yang4yin]

Whatever you do, don't move into the Doral apartments - at least not on the first floor!

(Flooding problems.)



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