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Military shooting demo uses real bullets, injures 16
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by Rob Peters | June 29, 2008 at 01:56 pm
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A public shooting demonstration in France went horribly wrong today when real bullets were used instead of fakes. No deaths have been reported, but 15 civilians were injured. I'll keep my eye out for updates.
PARIS, France (AP) -- A military shooting demonstration in southeast France on Sunday left 16 people wounded, including children, when real bullets were used instead of blank ones, officials said.
Four of the wounded were in serious condition, including a 3-year-old child, Bernard Lemaire, chief of the regional administration in Aude, said on France-3 television. Fifteen of the injured were civilians.
A Defense Ministry official said the incident occurred during a demonstration of hostage-freeing techniques at the Laperrine military barracks. The official said investigators will look into why real bullets were used.
No information was immediately available about what kind of weapon was used.
The soldier who fired the shots has been detained, Lemaire said. He said the injuries were likely an accident but that it could have been a "criminal act."
In a statement, President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his "horror" at Sunday's incident at the base, which houses the 3rd marine infantry parachute regiment.
The injured were taken to nearby hospitals, with the most seriously wounded taken to Toulouse.
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at 14:41 on June 29th, 2008
Why were they firing towards people in the first place? Have they never heard of Brandon Lee? (Whenever I did shows that featured mock weapons, it was a theatre regulation to point them into the aisles and never at audience members, because, even with blanks, sh&t happens)