Harford County man pulls gun & accidently shoots himself

BELCAMP, Md. - Tempers flared on Chapelgate Court in Belcamp on New Year’s Day as a stepfather handed two children back over to their father and then pulled out a handgun, racked the slide on top of it and pointed it at his head.

"He either threw a punch or he blocked it,” said Edward Hopkins of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, “Somehow both men became involved in some sort of altercation or scuffle.  As they fell to the ground, it's told to us that the gun discharged.  At this point, Mr. Gregg gets up and flees the scene."

40 year-old David Gregg drove back to his house on Periwinkle Way in Edgewood where paramedics later responded to a call for a shooting victim and discovered him with a 40-caliber bullet in his shoulder.

Doctors at Shock Trauma treated the wound and deputies arrested him when he returned home.

The children, ages three and nine, escaped the violent drop-off without injury, but police say they were lucky their step-dad only ended up shooting himself.

 "It's believed the children could have been at risk, because once the weapon fired, there was no way to determine where the bullet would have gone,” said Hopkins, “Obviously, we know the bullet stuck Mr. Gregg in the shoulder, but again, had it missed him,  we're not sure where the bullet would have gone."

The children’s father was struck several times on the back of the head with the handgun, but refused treatment at the scene.

David Gregg is being held at the Harford County Detention Center with no bond.