L.A. County fatally shot himself, accidentally while cleaning his service weapon

**Terminator** · 03-31-06, 05:12 PM

Industry (Los Angeles County)- Sheriff's Deputy Paul Wilms, fatally shot himself accidentally while cleaning his weapon, in the Community Service Center at the department's Industry Station, authorities said today.

Paul Wilms was the third sheriff's deputy killed in a week.

The body of the 38-year-old man was discovered by a fellow deputy about 5 a.m. in an office at the facility in the 200 block of Hudson Avenue, said Deputy Oscar Butao of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.

"This is the third deputy to die in the last seven days, and it's been kind of tough for us," Butao said.

On Tuesday morning, Deputy Maria Cecelia Rosa, 30, was fatally shot, apparently during a robbery attempt, outside a Long Beach residence as she was preparing to drive to work. No arrests have been reported.

And last Thursday, Deputy Pierre Bain, 45, was killed when his motorcycle crashed in Lancaster while he was in pursuit of a motorist.

Outside the Industry Station this morning, sheriff's Capt. Ray Peavy told reporters that investigators believe the latest death was accidental.

"He was cleaning his weapon," Peavy said. "We believe this probably occurred some time last night. During the course of cleaning his weapon it appears that a round was discharged and, at this point, it appears to be ... an accident"

**Curt581** · 03-31-06, 05:43 PM

Sounds fishy.

How many of you guys clean your weapons without fieldstripping it first?

Is it possible to field strip it without unloading first?

**Daynathepayna** · 03-31-06, 05:57 PM

Hmmmm. suicide?

Cheech · 03-31-06, 06:05 PM

Either way RIP.
Sad for LASO

**Retdetsgt** · 03-31-06, 06:37 PM

Some guns like Glocks require the hammer to be down before it can be field stripped and to do that you have to pull the trigger.

Some otherwise fairly bright cops I've known have thought their gun was empty when they "dry fired" it only to have a bullet in the chamber. One guy damn near died because he shot himself in the leg and hit the femal artery. He almost bled to death before he could get out of his basement and to a phone. This cop was a former Marine in Vietnam and quite a shooter. Goes to show how anybody can get careless.

**TXCharlie** · 03-31-06, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by Retdetsgt

Some guns like Glocks require the hammer to be down before it can be field stripped and to do that you have to pull the trigger.

My XD9 is the same way.

Plus it doesn't have a magazine safety, so it'll fire even with the magazine removed - a good thing in a gunfight if you accidentally drop the mag at the wrong time, but bad in this situation.

RIP three times

**BigBossMan** · 05-16-06, 03:05 AM

Originally Posted by Daynathepayna

Hmmmm. suicide?

It was said his wife was leaving him. He wasn't added to the Officers Down Memorial Page or to the LASD's website as being killed in the line of duty so it makes one wonder.

**TXCharlie** · 05-16-06, 09:17 AM

Water under the bridge.

**me again** · 05-16-06, 09:59 AM

Nobody was there when the officer shot himself with his gun, so nobody can say with certainty that he intentionally or unintentionally shot himself. However, my first reaction is that it is a suicide. For them to clear it as an accidental discharge is, uhhhhhhhh, unorthadox.

However, I don't know where the bullet entry-point is. For example, a self-inflicted head shot would be viewed differently then a thigh shot where he bled-out before he could get help. The latter would naturally be viewed as accidental, while a head shot would be more suspicious and, IMO, would more likely be viewed as a suicide. But without more facts, nobody can really say for certain.