Homeowner's House Damaged by Artillery

[Osiris]

Okay, forget about gun control, lol. Can we get some artillery control? Seriously, this could've been a lot worse.

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Homeowner assesses damage after 14-inch artillery shell enters house

Updated: Jun 24, 2014 10:33 PM EDT

By Cailey Dougherty - bio | email

http://www.koamtv.com/story/25862613/homeowner-assesses-damage-after-14-inch-artillery-shell-enters-house?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10300819

A homeowner in Wyandotte, Oklahoma is awaiting damage assessments after an artillery shell entered his home.

It was fired at the Oklahoma Full Auto Shoot and Trade Show on Saturday, around 3 miles a way.

Homeowner Gene Kelley could not fathom what he found after hearing a large crash inside his home.

"It's unbelievable," Kelley said. "Unless you were here to see it or see the pictures I've got, you would not believe how huge this thing is."

A 105 howitzer artillery shell, 14 and a half inches long and 3 and a half inches across, was lying on his bedroom floor.

It entered from the outside wall, hit the ceiling, and damaged another wall, all while he and his wife were home.

"Fortunately, nobody was hurt," Kelley said.

Homeowners say if the shell had not first hit a tree limb and then the ground, the impact would have been a lot more severe when it hit the house.

The Ottawa County Sheriff's Department says the shell came from a historic artillery canon fired at the gun show.

The gun range owner says the weapon was fired safely by professionals at a downward projection.

"It was not on a level plane, but on a downward trend, pointed downhill in the bottom of a valley," said Mike Friend, Owner of Fast Machine Gun Shoot. "For that thing to rise and go far northwest of the range, it's just unheard of."

Both he and the homeowner describe it as an absurd occurrence.

"It's a freak accident because as far as the safety end of everything, we drill every one of our shooters before it ever begins," Friend said. "We have 30-45 minute drill."

"It was definitely a freakish accident that happened," Kelley said.

The weapon owner has agreed to pay for all damages to the Kelley home.

Kelley says he is not against guns, but does think there should be a limit on the size and use of such weapons.

"The people that bring these type of weapons need to think about whether it is really safe and an appropriate area to take a weapon of that magnitude and shoot it," Kelley said.

Owners of the range say they are taking every measure to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

That particular weapon had never been fired on the range before.

[MLD Woody]

That reminds me of that cannon misfire the Mythbusters had and it shot a cannonball into a guy's house