A 19-year-old woman died Sunday afternoon after an apparent accidental shooting in a Springville 7-Eleven parking lot.
Springville police Lt. Dave Caron said the woman had been camping, and shooting rifles and handguns, with her 24-year-old husband during the weekend. The couple drove out of Hobble Creek Canyon on Sunday morning and stopped at a 7-Eleven at 206 N. Main Street.
"When they came out, he opened the car door for her and what appears to be a .22 revolver fell out of the truck and discharged," Caron said. "[The bullet] struck her somewhere in the abdomen. She realized she had been shot, and she fainted."
The woman's husband and a friend who was in the back seat called 911 at about 11:45 a.m. An ambulance responded and took the woman to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.
Caron said crews performed CPR on the woman at some point -- either when the ambulance arrived at the hospital or in the emergency room. They were unable to revive the woman.
The couple's truck is registered in Washington state, but Caron said they're from Utah. Their names are not being released until family have been notified, he said.
The shooting does not appear to be suspicious and there was no argument or fight between the man and his wife, Caron said.
"Nothing indicates this is criminal in any way," he said. "It was just simply an accidental discharge of a firearm when it fell out and hit the ground."
Legislation signed by then-Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. in May allows any law-abiding person older than 18 to carry a loaded handgun anywhere in a vehicle. Long guns -- such as shotguns and rifles -- are excluded from that provision and must be unloaded.
Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, said the law was intended to allow gun carriers, even without a concealed permit, to safely secure their weapons in a glove box or center console so they wouldn't slide freely around the car.
While he noted the Springville death was "troubling," Aposhian said firearm accidents are "almost without exception" preventable and caused by negligence.
Aposhian said most guns have safety features that prevent them from firing when dropped, and he actually teaches people to let their gun hit the ground if it falls. "I am skeptical a gun fell out of the car, hit the ground and discharged," he said.
It is more likely, he said, that a person will hit the trigger while catching the gun than it is the firearm will shoot from the impact of striking the ground.
Older guns have more deficiencies but can be retrofitted to fix accidental firing when dropped, he said.
