PIERRE, S.D. — One of the participants in a mock Old West gun battle in South Dakota fired live ammunition instead of using blanks, wounding three tourists, authorities announced Friday.
More than 100 people attended the show a week ago staged by the Dakota Wild Bunch re-enactors, who perform several times a week in Hill City, a tourist town in the Black Hills.
The ammunition shattered a 65-year-old Minnesota woman’s fibula, a bone in the lower leg. A 48-year- old Pennsylvania man and a 52-year- old Nebraska man also were wounded.
There was no immediate comment from re-enactors. On its Facebook page, the group has said its members are not allowed to bring live rounds to performances.
Carrol Knutson of Birchwood, Minn., said earlier that she was sure her leg injury was caused by a live bullet. She said the hospital determined that a bullet hit her fibula, and lead residue was found in the wound.
The simulated gun battles have been suspended at least until the sheriff’s department investigation ends. The mock shootouts between lawmen and outlaws have been held in Hill City for at least a couple of decades, and the Dakota Wild Bunch has been doing the show for about four years. The Associated Press
