We get this question often. It comes out of claims made by Arthur Kellermann and his research claiming the risk about having guns in the home. No official government statistics are collected on such cases, so we decided to do a news search to get a rough idea of the magnitude of these cases. Our impression is that when an event like this occurs it gets a lot of news coverage. For 2013, we have found eight cases where the wrong person was killed and another two cases where they were wounded. we don’t put much weight on the cases involving woundings, but my guess is that the cases of deaths are much more accurate. Of course, if we have missed any cases, we would appreciate being informed of that.
Yet, there is a perception that these cases represent a significant problem. Some cases get international news coverage. In a case from South Africa, Oscar Pistorius claimed he was in fear of his life when he shot his girl friend four times through a locked door. Pistorius’ case probably got the coverage that it did because he had been in the Olympics and his explanation that it was an accident seemed so implausible.
Deaths in the US in 2013
1) Stepdad who shot teen girl is decorated Fort Carson officer – December 26, 2013
Some of that news coverage from around the world is available here, here, and here.
2) Ronald Westbrook, Alzheimer’s Patient, Killed After Being Mistaken For Intruder: Cops – November 28, 2013
New York Daily News — “The shooter, Joe Hendrix, is not facing charges for fatally shooting 72-year-old Ronald Westbrook, who tried to get into his northwest Georgia home early Wednesday. Authorities say Westbrook was lost and disoriented.“
Other stories are available here, here, and here.
3) Police: Polk mom mistakes daughter for boyfriend, shoots and kills her – November 27, 2013
4) Homeowner Says He Shot Renisha McBride in the Face By Accident – November 7, 2013
5) High school track star shot and killed after jumping out of closet in prank gone horribly wrong: father – SEPTEMBER 8, 2013
CNN has discussion about the case available here.
6) Orlando boy shoots, kills younger brother, 12, after mistaking him for a home invader – MARCH 23, 2013
Other news stories are available here, here, here, here, and here.
7) Caleb Gordley shot and killed in Sterling, Virginia – March 18, 2013
“Loudoun County Sheriff’s officials say that between 2:30 and 3 a.m. Sunday, a homeowner in the 4500 block of Pullman Court shot and killed a juvenile intruder. Before the shooting, an alarm was activated inside the home, and the homeowner says he discovered 16-year-old Caleb A. Gordley on the stairwell.”
“Sterling teenager shot and killed after entering wrong home: A Sterling teenager was shot and killed after he apparently entered a home thinking it was his own and was mistaken for a burglar or home invader. Police said Caleb Gordley, 16, had been drinking and entered a neighbor’s home through a back window.“
Other news stories are available here, here, and here.
8) Police: Man mistakes wife for intruder, shoots her – March 10, 2013
The woman ended up dying from the shooting.
Injuries
1) Lawton, Oklahoma: Man shoots wife; claims he thought she was intruder — September 24, 2013
2) Teen shot after relative mistakes him for an intruder – November 18, 2013
I am a gun owner and strong 2nd amendment advocate, but these tragedies cannot be swept under the rug. Please keep researching. Here are just a very few of the latest:
http://katv.com/news/local/volunteer-firefighter-killed-in-morning-shooting
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-mom-accidentally-shot-killed-daughter-20151230-story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/12/ohio-father-fatally-shoots-suspected-intruder-who-turned-out-to-be-his-teen-son/
Who was sweeping anything under the rug? You are cherry-picking a few incidents. What we tried to do is go through and systematically measure the rate that these types of events are occurring. The proper comparison is to compare the rate of people using guns to stop home invasions versus the rate that bad events happen. If you had any cases that we missed over the time frame that we looked at, that would be very helpful. I don’t really care what views that you have, but since you are ignoring the point being made here about the rate of these attacks occurring, color me skeptical that you have the beliefs that you claim that you do.