MIAMI, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Police added a dose of skepticism
on Wednesday to a report about a man who says he was shot by his
dog while driving down a Florida highway.
Commander Steve Carr, a police spokesman in the central town
of Sebring, where the shooting occurred on Saturday, said there
were “some indications” the shooting victim may have made up his
“dog shoots man” story.
Gregory Lane Lanier, 35, told police he thought the 9mm
Beretta semi-automatic handgun on the floor of his pickup truck
was unloaded when the black and tan English bulldog kicked it
and caused it to fire.
Lanier was hit in his left leg and the bullet wound, patched
up at a local hospital, was not serious.
“It’s what he claims,” Carr said of Lanier’s account. “We
didn’t spend a lot of time investigating it. There doesn’t
appear to be any criminal act involved. You don’t have to be
licensed in Florida to carry a handgun.”
Lanier could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Calls
to a phone number listed for him in a Sebring Police Department
report on the highway shooting went unanswered.
(Reporting by Tom Brown; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Dan
Grebler)
