On 10-28-05 at 1621 hours, road patrol units responded to the parking lot of K-Mart, California, Maryland for a reported motor vehicle collision. It was determined that no collision occurred, but the subject received a gunshot wound to his left hand. The investigation was assumed by Detectives with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
Investigation revealed that four subjects were sighting in black powder guns at a different location (St. Mary's River State Park). The victim, Guiseppe Conigiaro, 20 years old of Patuxent River, loaded the black powder gun himself. Once Conigiaro fired the weapon the left side of the barrel expanded. Due to the force, the barrel exploded causing serious injury to Conigiaro's left hand/ thumb.
Due to the secluded location of the incident Conigiaro's friends drove him to the parking lot of K-Mart to contact an awaiting ambulance. Conigiaro was flown to a Baltimore Hospital.
Alcohol was not involved in the incident by any of the subjects.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigations will not be filing any charges for the incident. The Department of Natural Resources Police was notified since the incident occurred on State Park property.