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Kroger shopper accidentally shoots himself inside store

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com)- A man took his gun inside the Kroger at Kirby and Quince, telling police it accidentally fired. He ended up wounding himself ...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com)- A man took his gun inside the Kroger at Kirby and Quince, telling police it accidentally fired.

He ended up wounding himself in the leg.

Kroger began asking customers to not openly carry earlier this month after the deadly shootings at Walmart’s in Southaven, Mississippi and in Texas.

Local 24 News was sent a message of a shopper’s scary experience Friday at the Kroger on Kirby and Quince.

A man was shopping when a guy about 8 feet from him bent over.

That’s when the gun on his hip accidentally went off, shredding his pant leg.

“It probably would have made me nervous, you know I probably would want to see if he’s okay and then I probably would have mind my business.”

“Right there, that was careless and reckless to me,” said shopper Douglas Artry.  

A Kroger associate then called police.

According to the police report the man with a gun told an officer he was adjusting his pants and somehow pulled the trigger.

Officers say he had a handgun permit.

One shopper thinks customers should carry in case the worst plays out.

“If it had of been the incident in Walmart, someone with a gun could have prevented that,” said another shopper who frequently visits the store. 

On July 30th just 15 miles from this Kroger a gunman walked into Southaven Walmart and killed two managers.

 Four days later, gunfire in an El Paso Texas Walmart. Twenty innocents lost their lives.

Douglas Artry, who carries a concealed weapon, believes the Kroger incident was irresponsible.

“I don’t know what that guy was doing for it to go off, I hate that it happened,” said Artry, who carries a concealed weapon. “Having it out where people can see it, to me that’s asking for trouble.”

He admitted his own reaction would have been immediate.  

“I probably would have went for mine’s not knowing if somebody’s trying to rob Kroger or do something,” he said. “My main concern is keeping my daughter and grand baby safe.”

 Kroger declined to press vandalism charges.

The man who shot himself was issued a city ordinance and is due in court in November.

Kroger and Walmart’s anti-open carry policies, are just that policies.

A second gun owner, who we spoke to off camera, says he believes it should be illegal for people to openly carry in stores.

Local 24 reached to Kroger for a statement but haven’t gotten a reply back.  

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