Two men accidentally shoot themselves with the same gun

A Pasadena man shot himself in the groin Sunday when he tried to tuck a handgun in the waistband of his pants, and his friend shot himself in the buttocks when he tried to put the same gun in his back pocket, Annapolis police said.

Police went to the first block of Bens Drive about 1: 30 a.m. after residents reported hearing gunfire. Inside one of the apartments officers found Darwin Coates, 21, of New Freetown Road in Pasadena, who told them he accidentally shot himself in the groin outside the apartment building while trying to shove a .22-caliber handgun into his waistband.

After the gun went off, Coates went to his girlfriend's apartment and called police. His friend, Gregory Johnson, 32, of Forest Beach Road in St. Margarets, took the gun.

An officer caught up with Johnson running down the street and found that he had been wounded by the same gun.

Johnson told police he took the gun from Coates, shoved it into his back pocket and was leaving when the gun went off a second time and wounded him. He left the gun inside the apartment, where police found it.

Johnson was treated at Anne Arundel Medical Center and released; Coates was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Pub Date: 11/04/97