No one disputes how James Jewell died: He pressed a gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.
But was his death suicide or an accident?
Ann Zaniewski reports in the Free Press the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office says the 39-year-old committed suicide. But his family disagrees, she writes, saying he died in a horrifying mishap when the weapon discharged unexpectedly, during a safety lesson gone wrong. They want his death reclassified as an accident.
Police also have said the shooting was accidental.
“I was there. I know that’s not what he wanted to do,” Jennifer Jackson, 36, Jewell’s girlfriend, told Zaniewski.
Jewell had been drinking that day, and when the sheriff’s office released details about the shooting to the news media, Jewell instantly became the butt of jokes online. The comments infuriated his heartbroken family.
“They’re all just assuming that he was some sloppy drunk, just running around shooting guns and being an idiot,” Jackson said. “I’m not saying what he did wasn’t foolish. But that’s not the way he was.”
