Shooting club sponsor shoots self in leg

Greg Simpson, football coach and CNC teacher, and his youngest daughter, sophomore Audra Simpson, had just finished a relaxing afternoon in Osage Creek during Christmas break when the unthinkable happened. While changing out of his wet clothes, Simpson’s custom made revolver slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor. A shot went off.

“I thought it was my grandpa at first because he was hunting in the background,” Audra Simpson said.

What she didn’t realize at that instant was that her father had accidentally shot himself below his right knee and straight through his tibia.

“I reached down behind my knee. I pulled my hand out and I got blood,” Greg Simpson said.

Greg Simpson has a sufficient understanding of what to do in an emergency like this, and he was very lucky that his daughter also happened to be around.

“I told him to sit down and stay calm, and I used his belt as a tourniquet,” Audra Simpson said.

Audra Simpson was able to apply pressure to the wound until the paramedics arrived 16 minutes later.

“I think it was one of those situations where it was all instinct and something else took over,” Audra Simpson said.

After three surgeries and days in the hospital, Greg Simpson now has a leg full of sea coral, metal plates and screws.

“My wife has been on my butt about coming to school so early cause she thinks I’m crazy, and I said I’m not staying at the house anymore because I can’t handle it,” Greg Simpson.

It will take along the lines of three months  for Greg Simpson to be released from his wheelchair, start walking on his crutches and begin stretching his leg.

“It was an accident. I’m not mad about the gun. I mishandled it, and it came back and bit me, but I’ve been with guns almost all of my life,” Greg Simpson said.

The injury has not changed the Simpson’s mindset on guns and gun safety. His daughter shares a similar belief when it comes to being prepared and gun safety.

“I think you always have to be careful if there is any kind of weapon. You have to be smart with it, and you can’t treat it like a toy,” Audra Simpson said. “ Accidents happen, but I think God was just really there throughout the whole situation.”