A Pennsylvania firefighter fatally shot himself when he tried to catch a gun that fell from his holster while he was trying to calm his crying son in the back seat of a car.
Berwick police say 28-year-old Kenneth Morris reached through the car’s rear driver’s side door to comfort his one-year-old son when the .357-caliber magnum revolver fell from Morris’ shoulder holster.
When Morris tried to grab the falling weapon, he accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting himself in the stomach.
Deadly accident: Kenneth Morris, 28, was tending to his crying one-year-old son (pictured together) when he accidentally shot himself when he tried to catch a gun that fell from his holster
Family man: Morris, a volunteer firefighter form Pennsylvania, is pictured with his fiancee (top row, left), and their for children
Police say surveillance video captured the shooting, which happened at around 2.18pm on Tuesday in a driveway of a home on West Second Street in Berwick.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to Geisinger Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery but succumbed to his injuries three hours later.
According to his Facebook page, Morris was a native of Virginia who worked as a grinder at a Benton foundry and served as Second Assistant Chief at Nescopeck Township Volunteer Fire Company – Station 161.
The fire station posted a message on its Facebook page paying tribute to Morris, who was described as a ‘great guy and a good friend’ who will be ‘forever remembered in the fire fighter family.’
Morris inadvertently fired a bullet into his stomach, which cost him his life three hours later. His bride Cassandra (right) lamented that he did not deserve this
The family welcomed its latest addition, a baby boy,in September 2016 (pictured in the hospital after his birth)
Morris leaves behind his fiancee Cassandra Maree and their four children. Their youngest son had just turned one last month.
The man’s bride posted a heartbreaking photo, presumably taken in the hospital after Tuesday’s accidental shooting, showing her hands gripping Morris’ hand. Maree wrote in the caption accompanying the image that she misses her fiance terrible and that he did not deserve this.