meanwhile in Nebraska:

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Michael Gardner wanted to start his nephew’s wedding with a bang.

His plan involved shooting a blank from a revolver into the air to signal to the roughly 200 people gathered on Saturday that the outdoor ceremony, which he was officiating, was about to begin. But when Gardner cocked back the hammer of the gun, it slipped, and the homemade blank that he had used, which was closed off with glue, fired from the Pietta 1860 snub-nose revolver that he had borrowed, he said.

As the bride was about to walk down the aisle, what was supposed to be a day of love in Denton, Neb., turned into one of unexpected panic: The wedding officiant accidentally shot his 12-year-old grandson in the shoulder.

Despite the shooting, Gardner finished officiating the wedding.

In an interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday, Gardner said he regretted using a homemade blank; it was the first time he had done so. He acknowledged that the gun did not belong to him and that he had not used the firearm before it was accidentally discharged.

“It’s hard knowing you hurt somebody that you love more than life,” said Gardner, 62, of Odessa, Tex. “Common sense would tell you that you don’t carry a gun around with a blank in it, and that it would do you no good. But the gun was part of the wedding, and it was going to be used to summon the bride.”

The 12-year-old boy was taken to Children’s Hospital about an hour away in Omaha, and his injuries aren’t life-threatening, said Ben Houchin, chief deputy of the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office in Nebraska.