MP wounded in weapon accident
by Richelle Turner-Collins
Staff writer
European Stars and Stripes

July 1st, 1999
CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - A U.S. military policeman was wounded Friday when another soldier's machine gun accidentally discharged, an Army spokesman said Sunday.
The injured soldier was identified as Sgt. Matthew Jenkins, assigned to the 1st Military Police Company in Wurzburg, Germany. Jenkins was shot in the left shoulder, grazed on the head and suffered several fragment wounds.
Jenkins was wearing a flak vest and kevlar helmet when the accident occurred. Capt. Martin Downie said officials didn't know if the fragments came from jenkins' flak vest.
Downie, a spokesman for the U.S. forces in NATO's Kosovo Force, said it was the first such shooting at the camp.
The 67th Forward Emergency Surgical Team treated Jenkins at the camp. He was later airlifted to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Downie described the soldier as being in stable and good condition.
The shooting occurred at 12:30 p.m. Friday near the motor pool. Jenkins was preparing his vehicle for a convoy when he was shot by an automatic weapon. At least three bullet rounds were fired, Downie said.
The M249 machine gun, commonly called a SAW, is a hand-carried weapon that has a bipod attached. It can fire about 750 rounds per minute and has a range of up to 2,000 meters, or 6,600 feet.
The exact details of the incident were not available.
Some soldiers at the camp said Jenkins was shot because a soldier failed to clear his weapon - or check to see whether it was loaded. But Downie said it was unclear if the soldier was clearing his weapon when the shooting occurred.
The shooting is under investigation. At this point, military officials said they are not talking about charging the other soldier, whose identity was not released.
Following the incident, soldiers at the camp underwent proper weapons clearing procedures, Downie said.
Under these procedures, soldiers remove the magazine from their weapons, retract the charging handle, make sure there are no bullets in the chamber and pull the trigger while pointing the gun at a weapons-clearing barrel.
Because of force protection rules, Dowie declined to say when soldiers carry loaded weapons.

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