Shooter Accidentally Hits Himself in His Apartment — Then Learns the Discharge May Put His Lease in Jeopardy

The man said the incident started with a gun mistake inside his apartment, and it ended with him being injured. According to the Reddit post, he accidentally shot himself. That alone was serious enough, but the aftermath quickly became about more than the injury.

The original Reddit post can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/ct78kc/yesterday_i_accidentally_shot_myself_now_im_being/

A gun going off inside an apartment creates a chain reaction of problems. First, there is the medical issue. If someone is hit, even by their own mistake, emergency care may be needed right away. Then come the questions: where did the round go, who else was nearby, whether any neighbors were endangered, and whether police or apartment management need to be involved.

The poster said he was now being evicted, or at least facing that possibility, because of the discharge. That is where the situation became a housing issue too. An apartment complex may not care whether the shot was accidental if the lease includes rules about dangerous conduct, property damage, or discharging firearms on the premises.

From the shooter’s point of view, it may have felt like punishment stacked on top of an already painful mistake. He had injured himself. He was likely embarrassed, scared, and dealing with medical fallout. But from management’s side, a firearm discharge inside a shared building is not just a private accident. It creates risk for everyone around him.

That is the hard truth of apartment living with firearms. You may legally own the gun. You may never intend to hurt anyone. But one negligent discharge can put neighbors, walls, ceilings, floors, plumbing, and the lease itself in the path of the consequences.

The post did not need a villain to be tense. The shooter made a mistake, got hurt, and then had to face what that mistake meant legally and practically. He wanted to know what rights he had and whether the apartment complex could really remove him over something he did not mean to do.

Intent matters in some legal situations, but consequences matter too. A person does not have to mean harm for a landlord to decide the building is no longer safe with that tenant there. And if the discharge damaged property or scared neighbors, management would likely have a record to point to.

Commenters were direct that an accidental shooting inside an apartment can still be grounds for serious consequences. Several said the lease would matter. If it prohibited firearm discharge, dangerous behavior, or damage to the property, management might have a strong case.

Others said the poster needed to read every notice carefully and not assume he had already lost. Eviction is a legal process, not just a landlord saying “get out.” Depending on the state, he may have had time to respond, cure certain violations, or contest the eviction in court.

Some commenters told him to talk to a landlord-tenant attorney quickly, especially because an eviction record can follow a person for years. Even if he ultimately had to leave, he might be able to negotiate a move-out agreement that avoided a formal eviction judgment.

A few people focused on the firearm safety side. They said the fact that he shot himself showed the mistake was not harmless, even if nobody else was hit. A discharge in an apartment is dangerous by nature because there are people on the other side of walls and floors.

The post ended with the man learning that the shot did not stop being a problem once the wound was treated. It followed him into the lease, the landlord’s office, and possibly the court system. One bad moment with a gun had turned into an injury and a housing crisis at the same time.