In a peculiar incident in Illinois, a man is now facing firearms charges after accidentally shooting himself in the leg while asleep, reportedly dreaming about a burglary that turned fatal, according to NBC News.
The occurrence happened on April 10 when deputies responded to a gunshot wound report from a Lake Barrington resident. Upon arrival, they discovered 62-year-old Mark Dicara with a gunshot wound on his leg, as stated in a release by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Due to significant blood loss, a tourniquet was immediately applied to Dicara’s leg to prevent further injury.
During the police investigation, Dicara revealed that he had a dream about someone breaking into his house, prompting him to shoot at the burglar with his .357 Magnum Revolver. However, the situation took a bizarre turn when Dicara mistakenly shot himself instead, awakening from the dream. He was subsequently transported to a local hospital for treatment.
“The round discharged from the firearm went through Dicara’s leg and lodged itself into Dicara’s bedding. Fortunately, the round did not travel through a shared wall with Dicara’s neighbors,” the release explained.
Law enforcement confirmed during questioning that there was no actual attempted burglary at Dicara’s residence, and no intruder was present on his property.
On June 12, Dicara was arrested on a warrant but has since been released after posting a $150,000 bond. The sheriff’s office stated that he is facing additional charges, including possessing a firearm with a revoked Firearm Owners Identification and reckless discharge of a firearm.
Under Illinois law, gun owners are required to possess a Firearm Owners Identification card to legally possess firearms or ammunition, as mandated by the state police. Dicara is scheduled to appear in court on June 29.
In a separate context, data from the CDC reveals that homicides accounted for 43% of all deaths, amounting to 19,384 deaths in 2020. These figures signify a 75% increase over the past decade and a 34% rise from 2019. The data further highlights that firearms are responsible for almost 53 deaths per day in the United States, with 79% of homicides being committed using firearms.
Furthermore, information from the Washington-based Gun Violence Archive indicates that there were over 600 mass shootings in the US in 2022 alone, more than double the 336 reported four years earlier. A mass shooting, broadly defined, refers to any incident in which four or more individuals, excluding the shooter, are shot or killed.
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