Shooting DME

A Concord Township man was charged with recklessly endangering another person after an accidental shooting Monday, Dec. 16.

Police said Raymond Lee Keefer, 36, was arrested after shooting his wife in the leg with a rifle. He told police officers he did not mean to do it.

The incident occurred at a single-wide trailer the couple rents at 949 Hooker Road.

According to an affidavit, an argument occurred after Keefer got home from work around 3:40 p.m. and told his wife he was taking the truck to get cigarettes.

Keefer grabbed the key to his gun safe, pulled out his Winchester rifle and loaded a round into it. He told police his wife approached him while his finger was on the trigger, as he tried to go outside and “shoot a round off.”

Keefer said his wife then stood facing him and told him he “wasn’t going to go outside and shoot any rounds off,” according the affidavit. Keefer told police he then tried to unload the round from his gun and must have pulled the trigger before he could unload it, and that “it happened all so fast.”

State police troopers responded to the couple’s home after Keefer called police, telling them he had accidentally shot his wife in the leg. Keefer’s wife was transported to Butler Memorial Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to her lower right leg. Police observed pools of blood on the carpet when they entered through the front door, according to the affidavit.

Another officer met with Keefer’s wife at the hospital, and she relayed the same time line of event.

Keefer was formally charged with recklessly endangering another person, a second-degree msdemeanor. His bail was set at $15,000, and he has a preliminary hearing Tuesday before District Judge Lewis Stoughton. As of Tuesday, Keefer was being held at Butler County Prison and unable to post bail.