Dog Accidentally Shoots Woman with Shotgun at Convenience Store

Police in Nebraska responded to a convenience store shooting over the weekend, but the suspect turned out to be anything but typical.

According to police, a dog accidentally caused a loaded shotgun to fire from inside a truck parked outside a Short Stop gas station and convenience store in Scottsbluff.

Officers were first called to the scene just after noon Saturday after reports that someone had been shot with a BB gun. But while police were still on the way, they learned the situation was much more serious. The weapon involved was actually a shotgun.

When officers arrived, they found a truck with damage consistent with a shotgun blast on the passenger-side door.

Investigators said the driver had pulled into the parking lot to shop. A dog sitting in the back seat then moved from one side of the vehicle to the other and somehow triggered the loaded shotgun, causing it to discharge.

The blast struck the truck’s passenger-side panel. But one pellet traveled beyond the vehicle and hit a woman who was stopped nearby at a traffic light with her arm hanging out of her open window.

Police said the pellet hit the woman in the upper arm.

Thankfully, her injury was not believed to be life-threatening. She was taken to a nearby hospital by a family member.

The bizarre incident is now under investigation by the Scottsbluff Police Department. According to the report, it is illegal in Nebraska to travel with a loaded shotgun inside a vehicle.