There’s a story on Gawker about a man in San Antonio Texas who accidentally shot his girlfriend…. In the chest… With a shotgun. (She is apparently in stable condition now). So far, so tragic.

Given that it was an accident and involved a shotgun you might be thinking hunting accident. Sadly, that was not the case. It apparently went down more like this.

The guys’ ex-girlfriend showed up and there was a verbal altercation. The boyfriend decided that the best way to resolve the situation with the ex involved getting his shotgun. Isn’t that your goto position in a “verbal altercation”?

His girlfriend tried to stop him from shooting his ex. Mr. Wonderful then accidentally shot his current girlfriend… in the chest… with a shotgun. No word on the ex, but I’m guessing she signed up for that private Mars mission that’s been recruiting. Even that may not be far enough away from this guy.

You might wonder why I mention Texas in the title. Surely this could’ve happened anywhere. That is the unfortunate truth, but this story has a twist. It seems the police were initially unsure if charges would be pressed. Now let’s make sure we understand that. He shot his girlfriend while she was trying to keep him from shooting his ex-girlfriend over an argument, but the San Antonio P.D. doesn’t really see anything wrong with all that. S.A.P.D. eventually decided to charge him with “possible aggravated assault”.

I agree with them on a couple of points. He definitely assaulted his girlfriend (with a shotgun!), and it’s pretty safe to say he was aggravated. I’m just not sure why they put the word possible in there. Are they saying “Maybe he wasn’t aggravated.”? I tend to think it’s because it’s Texas. Maybe they just don’t think that blasting your girlfriend with a shotgun should count as assault.

Ahhhhh Texas.

Cheers, Winston