Man shoots own penis

October 16, 2020

A Portland man accidentally shot himself in the penis after he tried to tuck his licensed firearm in his waistband on Tuesday. The man had to undergo emergency surgery at the Kingston Public Hospital.

Superintendent Dwayne Wellington, commanding officer for Portland, told THE WEEKEND STAR the man is still in the hospital.

"I only heard about it. I don't have anything specific on it. I am aware that it happened but it's a low hanging fruit. There's no criminal investigation," Wellington said. "You can't charge a man for shooting himself, unless you can prove that it's attempted suicide, as attempted suicide is an offence."

In the meantime, a leading doctor in Jamaica has urged gun handlers to be careful in the handling of their weapons. Dr Elon Thompson said that he has seen a number of these cases throughout his practice.

"I have done amputations and taken out testicles. These injuries do occur. It is not as if we are seeing an uptick in the number of cases. We need to advise firearm holders that they should be a little bit more cautious," said Thompson, a urologist. He said there are various factors to consider with these injuries.

"It can injure the penis itself, damage the structures that supply the penis to give it an erection, or it can damage the passage that you pass urine through. And in proximity to those structures would be the scrotum as well, where you can damage the testicles," Thompson explained.

He said it was extremely important that both male and female firearm holders use gun holsters to mitigate that risk.

"It can happen to anyone. It happens to women as well, but more men than women, because more men carry guns. It is devastating and psychologically debilitating. We should encourage persons to practise using holsters," he said. "When you damage your urinary passage, it can have a vicious cycle of scarring after the injury, and you have to be operating on the passage to get it back to a normal calibre."

Other News Stories