Time to find a new line of work? Firearms instructor accidentally shoots someone for SECOND time

Terry Dunlap, 73, accidentally shot a pupil in the arm during safety demo

Dunlap also shot Cathy Schmelzer, at the time a teenager, in 1977

No charges were pressed in first shooting as it was deemed an accident

Officers still investigating whether to press charges for latest shooting

Schmelzer incredulous that Dunlap has made the same mistake again



Instructor: Terry Dunlap, 73, has accidentally shot someone for the second time. Reports say the firearms instructor thought his handgun contained blanks when he shot a man in the arm

A firearms instructor has accidentally shot a student during a gun-safety class in Ohio - the second time he has shot someone by mistake.

Shooting range master Terry Dunlap, 73, shot Michael Piemonte in the arm when he accidentally fired a .38 caliber handgun. The bullet first hit a desk at a shooting association training centre, ricocheted off and embedded in his arm.

News of the accident has angered another former Dunlap student, Cathy Schmelzer, 50, who was also shot accidentally by the instructor.

She told Disptach.com that when she was 14, she was shot in the leg by Dunlap when he fired his weapon to scare his daughter and friends during a Halloween 'haunted hay ride' on his property in Fairfield County, Ohio, US.

Dunlap was a police department auxiliary lieutenant at the time, and reports said he thought the gun was loaded with blanks.

On reading the latest Dunlap firearms error, Ms Schmelzer, of Prairie Township, Columbus, Ohio, was alarmed that the instructor had done it again.

Quoted by the news service, she questioned: 'He’s supposed to be teaching classes and he doesn’t know there’s a live bullet in there?'

No criminal or departmental actions were taken against Dunlap because the shooting was deemed accidental, Dispatch.com said.

Fairfield County Sheriff, Dave Phalen, told the news service a decision had not yet been made on whether to charge Dunlap for the latest August 10 shooting.



The accident happened towards the end of a 12-hour day of training in gun handling and safety, according to Dispatch.com.

Weapon: Dunlap thought his .38 handgun contained blanks, reports say, when he fired it and hit a pupil in the arm

Dunlap is qualified to teach classes for Ohioans who are getting their concealed-carry permits.



The shooting occurred at the Carroll-based home of the Central Ohio Coonhunters Association Inc., in Fairfield County.



Victim Mr Piemonte, 26, of Pataskala, Ohio, told the news service he felt 'torn' about what had happened.

On the one hand he said Dunlap was a good instructor, whose class had been 'very informative' and 'well laid out'.

On the other hand he pointed out that he got shot, but said he and his wife, who was also in the class, had forgiven Dunlap and keep him in their prayers.

Dunlap was formerly a Pickerington police department captain and later served as the community’s safety-service director.

He is one of five directors of the Central Ohio Coonhunters Association, in Carroll, Ohio - a hunting and wildlife conservation group founded in 1968.

The 73-year-old is also a Violet Township trustee and is seeking re-election in November.

