The Forest man who accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a Lynchburg restaurant on Sept. 11 was convicted Monday of recklessly handling a firearm.
Wayne Meredith Latham was ordered to pay a $500 fine and give up his concealed carry permit for a year. Judge Edwin Burnette also ordered Latham’s .45-caliber Glock 36 surrendered to police to be destroyed. Burnette suspended a 30-day jail sentence so long as Latham remains on good behavior.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jeff Bennett told the judge Latham came into Waterstone Pizza on Jefferson Street about 6:30 p.m. and ordered a beer. As the bartender was handing over the beer, the gun went off. Latham left the bar and fled toward Percival’s Island, Bennett said, where police found him talking on his cell phone.
Craig Tiller, Latham’s lawyer, asked the judge to put off the misdemeanor conviction. Tiller made his argument to the judge quietly, leaning into the bar, but was heard referencing Latham’s employment. Latham was named in a 1998 patent issued to McDermott Technology Inc., then a subsidiary of McDermott International, also the parent company of Babcock and Wilcox until August.
A Babcock & Wilcox spokesman declined to comment about whether Latham was still connected to the company.
Tiller told the court Latham reached in his pocket to pay the bartender when either his hand or something else in his pocket set off the unholstered gun.
Bennett told the court that carrying a pistol as Latham did, without a holster and with other items in his pocket possibly jammed into the trigger guard, was reckless.
“We’re lucky no one (else) was injured,” Bennett said.
Burnette said he agreed and refused to defer disposition. Ultimately, he said, Latham would likely not learn his lesson any better than by shooting himself.
“He made a very, very poor choice and endangered the public, endangered himself,” the judge said.
Virginia’s concealed-carry permit holders won the ability this year to carry into restaurants that serve alcohol so long as they abstain from drinking. The shooting happened the weekend after the beating death of George Baker, an elderly man visiting town for his granddaughter’s wedding, and at a time when residents were questioning the safety of downtown Lynchburg. Baker was staying in the Craddock-Terry Hotel connected to the pizza restaurant and was slain about four blocks away from Waterstone.
Bennett dropped charges of willfully discharging a firearm in the city and carrying the handgun in a restaurant after consuming alcohol. He said there was no evidence the shooting was intentional, or that Latham had a chance to drink any of the beer he ordered.
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