Reporter Injured By Ricochet at MO Democrat’s Range-Day Campaign Event

Last updated on October 23rd, 2024 at 07:32 am

KSHB 41 News in Missouri has confirmed its reporter, Ryan Gamboa, was injured by a ricochet while covering an Oct. 22 range-day campaign event for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Lucas Kunce.

Kunce, a U.S. Marine veteran who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, put on the gun range campaign event with former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger.

In a social media post, Kunce described the event in as a “great day at the range with my friend” Kinzinger, where he got to spend time with some union workers “exercising our freedom.” In the same post, Kunce acknowledged the injury, which he attributed to shrapnel.

Great day at the range today with my friend @AdamKinzinger. We got to hang out with some union workers while exercising our freedom. Always have your first aid kit handy. Shrapnel can always fly when you hit a target like today, and you’ve got to be ready to go. We had four first… pic.twitter.com/Qu4YxfrtrU

— Lucas Kunce (@LucasKunceMO) October 23, 2024

Kunce’s team photographed him applying a dressing on Gamboa’s gunshot injury.

“We had four first aid kits, so we were able to take care of the situation, and I’m glad Ryan is okay and was able to continue reporting,” he said.

KSHB 41 reported Gamboa checked in at a nearby hospital after the incident. The broadcaster described his injuries as minor and said he was released shortly thereafter.

While Gamboa survived with relatively minor injuries, social media users noted several safety concerns arising from the range layout in Kunce’s photo op.

Among the main criticisms was the close range at which the candidate’s team had set up benches to fire on a set of steel targets.

“You could’ve killed somebody today, you freaking moron. What kind of a brain dead idiot shoots steel inside 10 yards with a rifle?” said Sean Davis, a political commentator who co-founded The Federalist.

Davis posted additional comments, noting the apparent presence of tannerite resting on the benches Kunce’s team set up for the event. Tannerite is a binary explosive that can be set off when struck at high velocity, and is used sometimes used as a shooting target.

“There are at least two canisters of explosive Tannerite powder on the table, down range from where guns are being fired. That could’ve potentially killed or seriously injured someone if someone shot it or if someone was stupid enough to be shooting close enough to steel for a ricochet to hit it,” Davis wrote.

Davis noted at least one of the photos taken at the range day event had the cameraman positioned down range of the bench where rifles were visibly pointed.

Davis also mocked Kinzinger’s firing stance and his use of a rifle with a high-powered scope to fire on targets at close range.

“Absolutely mind-blowing insanity from a candidate for a political party that wants to take away your guns because it claims you can’t safely own them,” Davis wrote.

Other social media users questioned Kunce’s characterization of the event as a “great day” in light of the injury that arose from the event.

Another social media user asked who fired the shot that led to Gamboa’s injury.

The Kansas City Star reported Kunce was shooting an AR-15-style rifle at the time, and was the only person shooting when the injury occurred.

FreeBase News asked Kunce’s campaign team to confirm who was shooting when Gamboa was injured, and asked about the various comments on the range safety practices on display at the campaign event. The Kunce team didn’t immediately respond.

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, whom Kunce is seeking to unseat, shared several additional social media posts mocking Kunce’s range-day event.

I know the Kunce campaign needed a shot in the arm, but this is taking it a little far …

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 23, 2024

Hawley even mockingly asked if Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic 2024 presidential candidate, would “condemn the gun violence by Kunce and Kinzinger?”

Kunce has, himself, mocked others in the past for their apparent gun safety infractions. In a 2021 social media post, Kunce offered to provide gun safety training to Mark McCloskey; a St. Louis man who brandished a rifle as a group of demonstrators marched on the private street near his home in an incident the year prior.

Hey Mansion Man @McCloskeyUSA — my offers still stands for a Marine-led weapons safety training before you get your next gun… It might just keep you out of prison before Election Day. #MOSen pic.twitter.com/3UGaoXvD4p https://t.co/kvurERjYla

— Lucas Kunce (@LucasKunceMO) June 17, 2021