HARTFORD- Hartford Firefighter Justin Wood, 25, told police he was drinking liquor and beer before he accidentally shot his friend, 28-year-old Jose Medina, on Nov. 2, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Fox CT on Thursday.
Police say they arrived at an apartment on Webster Street in Hartford just after midnight and found a pistol, shell casing and blood in the living room.
Wood stated that he and another friend went to Medina’s home around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1. Wood said he drank two shots of Remy Martin brandy and two beers before driving Medina and the other friend to another mutual friend’s apartment around 11 p.m. Wood told police he started to drink another beer when he arrived at the Webster Street apartment, but did not finish the drink.
He told police that both he and the apartment owner are valid pistol permit holders and that the apartment owner let Wood hold his gun. Wood said he then showed the man his 9mm Springfield XDS handgun and let him hold it. Wood said that while the man was handing the gun back to him, it accidentally discharged and struck Medina, who was sitting on a bar stool in front of them. Wood said Medina never held a gun that night.
The apartment owner told police he and Wood were talking about the safeties on their guns and that Wood was demonstrating the safety mechanism and “explaining how the trigger could be pulled without firing when his gun went off, striking Medina.”
Medina was later interviewed by police and said that while standing next to a scorpion tank in the apartment, he suddenly felt “a burning sensation in his cheek and fell to the floor.” He said the bullet from Wood’s gun struck him on the left side of his jaw before it traveled to the back of his neck, where it remains.
Medina’s family members told Fox CT after the warrant was released that they believe Wood drank far more alcohol than he told police.
Wood was arrested Dec. 3 and is due in court on Dec. 12.
Below is the full arrest warrant.
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