Worker indicted for manslaughter in Texas gun range shooting

CYPRESS, Texas – Authorities say an employee of a Houston-area gun range discharged a customer’s rifle without checking if it was loaded, sending a bullet into the head of another customer who died.

The Harris County district attorney’s office said in a statement Friday that 21-year-old Tyler Sutton has been indicted on a count of manslaughter.

Sutton was working the counter at the gun range in Cypress last December when he pulled the trigger without apparently realizing the gun was loaded. The bullet travelled through a window and struck a man in the parking lot.

Harris County prosecutor Jim Leitner says presuming a firearm is not loaded “is always a recipe for disaster.”

The penalty for manslaughter is 2 to 20 years in prison.

A working phone listing for Sutton couldn’t be found.