A 17-year-old Cheyenne teen was cited Monday after she dropped her purse, causing the gun she was carrying in it to go off in a local coffee shop.
After the round fired, the girl said, “I think my purse went off!”
According to the Cheyenne Police report about the incident, the girl, whose name is being withheld because she is a juvenile, dropped her purse around 6:45 a.m. Monday while she was at the cash register at Starbucks, 1112 Central Ave.
Two Cheyenne Police officers were in the coffee shop at the time. Once they heard the gunshot, they drew their pistols and scanned the shop.
The officers approached the teen and searched her purse, which had a large hole in it.
They found a double-barrel .38 special Derringer pistol in the girl’s purse. The top barrel had been fired.
According to the report, the bullet missed John Basile, 43, by about 12 inches. After nearly missing Basile’s head, the bullet hit the west wall of the store, bounced back to the east and rolled under the coffee counter.
The officers had the teen call her parents, who responded to Starbucks shortly after the incident.
The girl’s father said he had given the teen the pistol and encouraged her to carry it while traveling for her protection.
The girl said she keeps the gun in her room and had it with her because she was going to visit friends in Laramie.
She said she has never taken a hunter safety class or any kind of formal firearms training.
The teen’s mother told police that she doesn’t particularly like firearms because they “may just go off.” She said she knew her daughter had a pistol and encouraged her to point it at a “bad person” if she was ever in trouble.
The gun was returned to the teen’s parents.
The girl was issued a city summons for possession of a firearm by a juvenile, which carries a $750 bond and a “must appear in court” stipulation.
City ordinance stipulates that individuals must be 18 years old to carry any type of firearm within city limits.
Wyoming state statutes state that a person must be 21 years old to carry a concealed weapon.
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2011/12/28/news/19local_12-28-11.txt