There are three things wrong with this next story. One, that a group of young folks decided to mix binge drinking with firearms. Two, that one of the drunks, 23-year-old Benjamin Allen Sprague, thought that a .45 caliber handgun was the same thing as a BB gun when he was drunkenly "dry firing" it. And three, that someone actually brought out a BB gun out at a party that involved .45 caliber handguns.
The story comes to us from Happy Valley, Ore--a suburb in southeast Portland where the housing is cheap and the entertainment options, limited.
When Sprague was first arrested back on Dec. 13, not many details were available. The AP reported at the time:
Detectives determined that several people in the home were playing with pellet guns when Sprague fired a handgun belonging to 19-year-old Grant Arnold, who lived at the residence.
Police found Jessica Heffler, 17, shot once in the abdomen. Heffler was taken to an area hospital with a non life-threatening gunshot wound.
But on Tuesday, new information was reported, this time by the Oregonian, that gave a bit more insight into the incident.
Turns out Sprague, his 17-year-old girlfriend and at least one of his homies were kicking back, drinking Four Loko (relax, Four Loko is now caffeine free, so unless they had vintage stock, Sprague and friends were just normal wasted, not cracked out wasted).
After getting good and smashed, folks started pulling out guns, presumably to see who's was bigger. Someone had a .45 (big fucking gun), someone else had a BB gun (thing you give to 8-year-olds).
At some point Sprague handled both the weapons. And after "dry firing" the BB gun for a while, he tried the same thing with the .45. Only the .45 wasn't "dry," it was loaded. And his girlfriend's abdomen was pointed right at it.
So after blowing a hole in her stomach, Sprague told his buddy who owned the gun "I had an accident with your .45. We need to get help." Good call. Perhaps the only one of the night.
Sprague's girlfriend, Heffler, needed reconstructive surgery, but she should be OK.
The gun whiz, meanwhile, faces charges of reckless-endangerment and third-degree assault.