Floral City Youth Killed in July 4 Accidental Shooting in Hernando
According to a Citrus County Sheriff's Office report of the incident, a deputy was enroute to the shooting location when two people inside a white Dodge pickup truck flagged him down at the intersection of E. Shorewood Dr. and N. Golden Rain Cir. The report stated that Mr. Salas, the victim of the shooting, was in the back seat of the truck. Emergency Medical Services Unit 4 arrived on scene and conducted an emergency code on Mr. Salas, but he was pronounced deceased at the scene.
According to witnesses, the group was shooting fireworks in a side yard when several people decided to take a shotgun to a mud hole called the Graveyard to fire it in celebration of the holiday.
As one of the celebrants was cleaning the shotgun inside a camper on the property, the 12-gauge shotgun, which was upside down, fired, hitting Mr. Salas, who was standing near the camper door involved in a discussion with another person.
The shotgun "was not acting right," according to the man preparing the shotgun for use. He said he was holding the gun upside-down, pointed toward the floor, looking at a shell that was stuck in the injection port when the gun went off, flew to the ground, and a bullet hit Mr. Salas, who said "ow," and he sat Salas, who couldn't speak, on the couch.
He told deputies that the safety was on, and he doesn't understand how the gun went off, that he'd oiled the gun so it would function propertly, and he'd attempted to remove a shell casing from the ejection port with a pair of pliers before the incident occurred. He said he initially believed the shotgun was loaded with birdshot.
The report stated that a crime scene technician told a deputy, that when he attempted to make the shotgun safe, he also had difficulty removing the shell casing from the shotgun.