Wife dies from leg wound after husband’s gun fires during cleaning, Georgia cops say
A Georgia woman is dead after what police are calling a gun-cleaning accident.
Michelle Ansley of Thomson was shot in the leg Tuesday when her husband’s gun accidentally discharged as he was cleaning it, authorities said, according to WRDW.
Ansley, 40, was rushed to a hospital in Augusta, where she later died.
McDuffie County Deputy Coroner Paul Johnson said the bullet traveled from the leg upward toward Ansley’s abdominal area, causing “extensive damage,” WJBF reported.
Thomson police responded about 6 p.m. Tuesday to the couple’s home after receiving reports of someone down from a gunshot wound, WFXG reported. Inside, deputies found Ansley with a single gunshot wound to the leg.
McDuffie County Fire/EMS treated Ansley at the scene before taking her to the hospital, according to the station.
Ansley’s death came as a shock to her colleagues, who remembered her as a someone who “got along with everybody.”
“Michelle had one of those very outgoing personalities,” Linda Lynch, Transit Director for the McDuffie County Senior Center, told WFXG.
Between 2008 and 2018, unintentional firearm deaths comprised 1.6% (5,785) of all fatal injuries in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The incident remains under investigation, authorities said.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Wife dies from leg wound after husband’s gun fires during cleaning, Georgia cops say."