A Texas county commissioner has been sentenced to one year of probation for accidentally shooting his 12-year-old grandson at a wedding in Nebraska last year.
Michael Gardner, 63, of Odessa, pleaded no contest in July to a misdemeanor child abuse charge for an incident that occurred nearly a year ago. He was sentenced Monday by District Court Judge Jodi Nelson, Nebraska Now reported.
The shooting occurred at an outdoor wedding venue near Denton, in southeastern Nebraska, on Sept. 30, 2023.
Gardner was officiating his nephew’s wedding when he pulled out a revolver, which he intended to fire to signal the start of the ceremony. But the gun accidentally went off as Gardner raised it overhead, hitting the child in the shoulder.
“Unfortunately, there was a mishap with the gun which resulted in my 12-year-old grandson being injured,” he later said of the incident.
The boy was rushed to a nearby hospital, then transferred to Children’s Hospital in Omaha, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The wound, which measured about 8 centimeters long and 4 centimeters wide, reportedly caused significant tissue and muscle loss, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.
Gardner, who was recently reelected to his second four-year term as Ector County commissioner, was initially charged with second-degree assault.
In July, he pleaded no contest to the reduced misdemeanor charge.
“It’s something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life,” he said.