A Florida man is dead after accidentally shooting himself in the face while allegedly threatening to shoot a dog, according to reports.
Police say Dennis Eugene Emery, 57, was declared dead at the scene after the incident early Tuesday in Pinellas Park, which is near St. Petersburg.
"He was involved in a domestic disturbance with his wife," Sgt. Adam Geissenberger of the Pinellas Park Police Dept. told Fox 13. "During that disturbance he retrieves a firearm, he produces the firearm, and he threatens to shoot one of the family's animals."
Neighbors told the station that Emery's wife had 13 dogs, and the barking was a source of tension between the two of them.
While allegedly threatening to shoot the dog, Emery pulled the hammer back on his revolver. When trying to release the hammer, however, the gun went off, according to the St. Petersburg Tribune.
"It's a shame. It's a damn shame," neighbor Dallas Collins told Fox 13. "I never figured him to be
irresponsible with a handgun."
The Tampa Bay Times said Emery had convictions for drunken driving in 1977, carrying a concealed weapon in 1978, disorderly conduct and public intoxication in 1983. The paper said he had 34 contacts with Pinellas Park police since 2012.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office lists four arrests in the past five months. In July, he was arrested on domestic battery charges. And last month, he had three arrests: leaving the scene of a crash, domestic battery, and one arrest for aggravated assault and resisting arrest.
Source: HuffPost
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