A La Plata County man shot himself in the leg earlier this month while hunting north of Durango.
Aaron Mallett, 35, stepped on a log and jumped down. As he came down, a rifle he had slung over his shoulder hit the hammer of a revolver strapped to his side, causing the handgun to discharge, according to an incident report filed by the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office.
The bullet hit Mallett in his upper right leg.
Mallett, who was with his older brother, walked out of the forest before being taken by ambulance to Mercy Regional Medical Center.
The severity of his injury was undisclosed. When reached by phone Tuesday, Mallett declined to comment.
The revolver was being carried with a live round under the hammer, and the safety was not engaged, according to the incident report.
The accidental shooting occurred about 1 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Potato “Spud” Mountain area, near the San Juan-La Plata county line, on the south side of Coal Bank Pass and east of U.S. Highway 550.
San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad did not return phone calls seeking information around the time of the incident, and he didn’t respond to an open records request until Tuesday – almost two weeks after the request was filed.
shane@durangoherald.com
