Justin Nelson recounts how his pistol discharged in August and fatally wounded Chad Goodman during a coroner’s inquest on Friday at the Missoula County Courthouse. The coroner’s jury ruled that the shooting was not a criminal act. Missoulian A coroner’s inquest Friday found that the fatal shooting of a Missoula man in August was not a criminal act. Chad Goodman, 23, was shot with a semi-automatic pistol in the early morning of Aug. 18 by a 22-year-old acquaintance, Justin Nelson. “It’s not uncommon for this type of accident to happen,” Marks said. “Unfortunately in this case, the gun was pointed at somebody when it happened.” The verdict, which vindicated Nelson of any criminal responsibility, came after 30 minutes of deliberation by jurors and followed the testimony of Nelson, a witness, his roommates, Missoula police officers and experts at the Montana Crime Lab.
The total nonchalance with which they treat gun negligence is a crime, pardon the pun. It should be a crime to point a gun at someone while manipulating the slide. This happens countless times each year but only a handful of them come to our attention, usually when someone is killed or injured.
In those cases, where it is proven that someone did this gravely dangerous action with a gun, they should be held accountable for it.
Mr. Nelson should never be allowed to own guns again. He has proven himself to be unfit to handle the responsibly.
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