Drunken Gun Enthusiast Kerry Putnam's "Stupid Incident" With Loaded Gun Leaves Wife Dead

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} It was just a case of "wrong place at the wrong time." At least that's what 64 year-old Kerry Putnam told police after shooting his...

By Adele Hampton

June 6, 2011

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It was just a case of "wrong place at the wrong time."

At least that's what 64 year-old Kerry Putnam told police after shooting his wife Friday night in their Tempe home.

In what he referred to as a "stupid incident," the drunken Putnam was switching the ammunition magazines from his .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun at about 8:20 p.m. Thursday when the slide went forward.

The gun went off, shooting his wife Antoinette in the chest from about 10 to 15 feet away across the room. She was transported to Maricopa County Hospital where she was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later. Putnam was arrested the next day.

Blowing a cool .187 BAC, Putnam claimed to be a well-trained gunman who grew up around guns and frequents the shooting range. He even boasted to police about his third-place ranking in a shooting competition.

Apparently his game was off that night.

Putnam was booked on one count of reckless manslaughter and booked into a Maricopa County jail.

He has no prior arrests and no record of domestic abuse.

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