July 20, 2006

This Kinda Stuff Only Happens In The South #3: Blind Man Trying To Handle Gun, Food Fatally Shoots Wife


MORGANTON, N.C. (A.P.)-- A legally blind man fatally shot his wife while trying to balance a plate of fried chicken and a pistol, authorities said.

Kelly Honeycutt of Morganton was holding a .38-caliber pistol he found in a box while he and his wife were moving into a new home Monday night, said Burke County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Beall said. He accidentally shot his wife Norita in the head after she handed her wheelchair-bound husband a plate of chicken, Beall said.

Beall said no charges were filed by investigators, but the case was sent to the county prosecutor's office for a final determination.

Beall said the husband was more than 50 percent blind, had limited movement and was in advanced stages of multiple sclerosis. His wife was his caretaker.

"They had a storybook marriage," Beall said. "No history of domestic violence, no indication of alcohol abuse. It just looks like a case of bad timing while handling a gun."

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