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Wife is critically wounded as husband shows off gun

By Helen Anne Travis, Times Staff Writer
In print: Tuesday, September 30, 2008

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LUTZ — Sunday evening, Linda Lunn, 41, smoked a cigarette outside her home in the Paradise Lakes nudist resort and shared a good laugh with her stepson's girlfriend.

Inside, Lunn's husband, Richard, 61, had piled his new guns on the kitchen island and was proudly showing off the firearms to his son, Dan, 34.

"We thought it was cute," said Margaret Wilcox, 40, Dan Lunn's girlfriend.

Linda Lunn went inside for a cup of coffee. There was a loud bang.

Pasco deputies said that as Richard Lunn discussed a Glock .357-caliber with his son, he pulled the trigger and accidentally shot his wife in the chest.

"She wasn't even 2 feet away," Wilcox said. "It happened so fast."

Lunn rushed to his wife, who lay in a pool of blood next to the refrigerator.

"I'm so sorry," he said, according to the report.

"I know you are," Linda Lunn responded.

She was airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition Monday evening.

Richard Lunn would not talk to a reporter about the shooting.

"It's a tragic accident," said his son, Dan, who also did not want to speak further.

Wilcox said Richard Lunn was an avid gun collector. Records indicate he had a concealed weapons permit that expired in July.

He told deputies he was cataloguing the new firearms into his computer and was excited to show them off to his son, the report says. He told deputies he did not realize the gun was loaded.

Neither Wilcox or the Sheriff's Office knew how many guns were in the house.

No charges were filed Monday, but deputies were still investigating.

"Right now, we just have it listed as an accidental injury," said Doug Tobin, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. "If (Linda Lunn's) condition would worsen, obviously we'll look at the case again."

The shooting underscores an important lesson, Tobin said.

"I would suggest anyone who has guns in the home to take a gun safety course," he said. "One of the key things that you learn … never ever point a gun, whether its loaded or unloaded, anywhere in the direction of a human being."

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Helen Anne Travis can be reached at htravis@sptimes.com or (813) 435-7312.