http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article68325762.html Read the story, look at the pictures and tell me what you think. It doesn't add up, I think kid's out of school that day were playing with daddy's gun. I shoot at this club and we are being threatened. Over a bullet that did not come from our range. What kind of bullet do you think it is?
Bullet hits school; officials seek safety rules for gun range A stray bullet crashed through a window and penetrated a wall at Frederickson Elementary School last month No one was injured, but shards of glass fell in a school hallway Bethel School District suspects bullet came from Tacoma Sportsmans Club range Photos supplied by the Bethel School District show a bullet that struck the districts Frederickson Elementary School, lodging in a wall. Photos supplied by the Bethel School District show a bullet that struck the districts Frederickson Elementary School, lodging in a wall. jgillie@thenewstribune.com The Bethel School District is asking Pierce County to review rifle range safety ordinances after a bullet struck the districts Frederickson Elementary School, penetrating a window and lodging in a wall. The incident occurred the afternoon of Feb. 16. No was injured by the stray bullet, but a teacher was near where shards of glass fell from the damaged window. We were fortunate that Feb. 16 was a training day. There were teachers, some of their children and a class sponsored by the YMCA or the Boys Club being held at the school, said Bethel Superintendent Tom Seigel. The bullet penetrated the hallway wall about five feet from the floor. In a letter to Pierce County Councilman Jim McCune, Seigel suggested that the errant bullet could have come from the Tacoma Sportsmans Club. The school is east of the clubs east-facing rifle range. Club President Gary Higginbotham said the club has high standards for safe shooting. We staff our ranges with certified range safety officers to ensure safe firearms handling and shooting. Our club has always maintained a safe shooting record, he said. The club president suggested in a prepared statement that the shot could have originated from unauthorized shooting in the nearby area around the club and the school. The club and the school are in a large no shooting area established by the Pierce County Council more than a decade ago. The clubs range is allowed as a regulated business. We have no influence on any shooting that takes place outside TSC property, Higginbotham said. We have an interest in safe shooting and believe that is best accomplished at established, managed ranges such as the ones run by TSC. Seigel said he thinks the shot might have come from the range. The president of the club informed me there were three rifles being used on the range at the time of the incident, one of which was a 5.56 mm rifle, he wrote. Depending upon the source referenced, that caliber rifle bullet has a maximum range of at least 3,600 yards and, some say, over 4,000 yards. The distance from the rifle range to the school is about 1,400 yards. The school district superintendent asked for a review of safety ordinances and a technical review of the incident. Such a technical review is needed to ensure the ranges continued operation poses no lethal threat to the students, staff and parents of Frederickson Elementary School, Seigel wrote. Seigel, in a letter to Higginbotham, asked that the club halt the use of the east-facing range. The club continues to use the range. The school superintendent said hes no ballistics expert, but he owns 40 guns and uses them once or twice a month to hunt or target practice. He suggested the club install a series of wooden baffles on the range to prevent a bullet fired at a high angle from leaving the range. The letter was the second time in recent weeks that Seigel expressed his concerns about the safety of schoolchildren in the semi-rural area of the county. He also has asked the county to restudy its proposal to relax its restrictions on gun use in a 2,000-acre area in the Kapowsin-Graham area because of the proximity of Kapowsin Elementary School to the border of that proposed area. The council deferred indefinitely a vote on the proposal. Seigel said he believes that a compromise could be reached that could allow shotguns or low-powered guns but restrict high-powered rifles and pistols. John Gillie
The article says a 5.56 or .223, If it did come from the direction of the Range, there are a number of measures that can be taken as proof that all gun fire is not directed towards the school, but away from it. Other ranges have these problems, blamed anytime a stray round fired by an unknown subject strikes a dwelling or other structure.
Looking at the bullet it does not look like .556 or .223 it looks like a .40 or maybe .45. The police seem to have lost the bullet. The trajectory doesn't match either the hole in the window was approximately 5' also 5' at the wall. Given the distance of 1400 yrds theres no way.
Given the incomplete picture, I could not tell much else about the bullet, other than to say: my first impression based on overall length was that of a pistol bullet, however, Also, their estimates are somewhat on the generous side of ballistics of 5.56 NATO.
It is very important that the Ranges RSO get very proactive and fully investigate the matter internally and fully, and build up proof positive that NO STRAY ROUNDS are leaving the Range and attendant property, making sure all safety measures are in place and intact, including berms and bullet barriers and all angles of trajectory interruption are complete and in place.
What do you mean they LOST the bullet? They can't do jack without the evidence, (*)(*)(*)(*) them. Get a ballistics expert to run the trajectory. Only way to clear your name
Apparently it was lost while responding to an armed robbery immediately after recovering the bullet. The picture is the only evidence of the bullet and it looks like a pistol bullet not a .556 that was being shot that day.
Get a trajectory analysis. If you can show it couldn't have come from your range or didn't because of where everyone was at the time etc, you can sue for defamation and hit then pretty damn hard with the evidence. If they produce the bullet you can still hammer them on chain of custody. (*)(*)(*)(*)ing sneaky and/or incompetent graboids
Look at the map. https://www.google.com/maps/@47.106614,-122.3484935,1234m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@47.101733,-122.3473903,541a,20y,41.51t/data=!3m1!1e3 The rifle range points NE, bearing 040 or so. The school is almost exactly 90 degrees to the left, bearing 315, and about 800yds away from the nearest firing point. Impossible? No. Reasonable doubt. Inarguable. Preponderance of evidence? Good luck with that.
This is a common enough problem for ranges near any types of buildings. For any Range to stay in operation, the management needs to get proactive and the Range safety officers need to make sure the membership cooperates by following all range safety rules.
There is a shooting range at the Laguna Seca race track. When they found a stray bullet on the track, they installed plywood so that only the lower part of the range was visible.
Usually it depends on who was there first. But the reality, ranges get closed all the time for people moving near them.
Here's the picture from the article. The bullet looks too long and narrow for a .45. I was thinking more along the lines of 9mm or .357. Either way this looks like it came from a pistol. It would be more helpful if we knew what the other two guns used during the time of the incident were. Do they have an outdoor pistol range?
It's a boat tail pistol bullet. The ONLY boat tailed pistol bullets I have seen are 147 gr. 9mm . I say let's get back to the idea of the kiddies were out messin' with daddies gun.
I am a bit surprised more of a investigation wasn't performed. Trajectory is easily established, a fairly simple thing and while the round may have deflected somewhat coming through the window, enough could be determined to rule the range as place of origin within a reasonable likely probability. Trajectory might have at least established the potential of the round coming from the range and I am surprised that info wasn't provided. Who ever tool the photo and recovered the bullet certainly would know if it was a rifle or handgun round and the approximate if not exact caliber. It is unfortunate the bullet was accidentally lost (assuming that was indeed really the case) as forensics could have been used to determine if it actually came from one of the guns said to be used that day at the range. If it did originate there, the shooter could have been queried to identify what likely happened and if the incident provided any clue on what, if any potential safety remedy could be applied. The terminal velocity to break through the window and lodge in the wall could have been estimated, again to determine the potential distance of travel; it does appear to be a spent round. If the bullet didn't originate at the range was there another area it might have originated, info that could be useful at a later time.
