Story Archive

All in All, He’s Really a Lousy Shot

When Cathy Schmelzer, 50, read that gun instructor Terry J. Dunlap Sr., 73, had accidentally shot a student in his Fairfield County, Ohio, safety class (This is True, last week), her immediate reaction was, “Oh no, he’s done it again!” When Schmelzer was 14, she was on a hayride with Dunlap, then a Pickerington police department auxiliary lieutenant. Because it was Halloween, Dunlap decided to shoot his pistol into the air as a “scary effect.” It was scary all right: Dunlap, who at the time said he “thought” his gun was loaded with blanks, managed to shoot the girl. Both of his victims survived. After the incident 36 years ago, Dunlap escaped both criminal charges and internal police reprimand because the shooting was ruled accidental. So far, no charges have been filed in the recent case, either. (RC/Columbus Dispatch) ...Sometimes, three strikes is just too many before someone is out.