UA Student Accidentally Shoots Himself in the Hand
By: Marissa Stevens
Updated: February 11, 2013
A University of Arkansas student accidentally shot himself while on school property.
"It's just something you don't encounter everyday, thank goodness... Your imagination will go wild and the what ifs," said Rick Stockdell, KUAF General Manager.
A UofA student brought a gun on school property Friday afternoon, and accidentally shot himself in the hand.
"People working here, heard a big bang... I get a phone call from one of the staff here saying this young guy brought a gun in, was showing another student his gun and it went off."
Stockdell said the victim is a work-study student at the station. A friend identified the victim as Matthew Williamson.
"It's just a weird situation, something you never expect to happen."
"At about 12:36pm we received a call that someboy had discharged a weapon inside KUAF," said Lt. Matt Mills with the University of Arkansas Police Department.
According to Mills, the student brought the gun in his backpack.
"He told us, originally, that he had just put it in there from his house and he lives off campus so we don't have any reason to believe that it was ever actually on the central part of campus."
But while showing it off to a co-worker, Williamson accidentally pulled the trigger.
"It's a Taurus. The model is called The Judge and it's chambered for a 45 long colt round or a 4-10 shotgun round. He actually shot himself with the shotgun round which caused the damage."
Guns are illegal on campus and since KUAF is university property, Mills said there may be criminal charges.
"The prosecutor will determine whether to issue a warrant based on having a handgun on school property."
In the meantime, folks at KUAF are rattled but relieved.
"If the young man he was showing it to happened to be standing on the other side of him, you know, he would have been hit as well... It could have been a lot worse, so that's the thing we keep in mind," said Stockdell.
A friend told us Williamson had surgery on his left index finger Saturday, and is scheduled to have another surgery Sunday morning at Washington Regional Medical Center.
The friend also said Williamson was on his way to the shooting range, did not know KUAF was considered school property, did not know the gun was loaded, and does not have a concealed carry license.






