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Rural Tonganoxie man who accidentally shot himself released from area hospital

By Shawn Linenberger - | Jun 8, 2011

A 23-year-old rural Tonganoxie man who suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound while shooting off his handgun in early May in his backyard has been treated and released from an area hospital after about a month’s stay.

An official at Kansas University Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., said Derek J. Erwin was released Thursday.

He had been hospitalized since the accident occurred May 4.

The man had drunk several beers with his girlfriend at his home about 3 1/2 miles east of Tonganoxie. As she took a shower, he went outside, reports said.

Two other residents of the home heard three gunshots, but they weren’t alarmed, reports said, because the man regularly fires his .45-caliber handgun in the backyard at night.

But the man came into the house, suffering from a gunshot wound below his chin that exited at the top of his forehead, reports said. He told the responding deputy that he had shot the gun, and officers are investigating the incident as an accidental shooting.

The man was taken by Leavenworth County Emergency Medical Service to Kansas University Hospital. The shooting occurred about 10:15 p.m.