Ku Klux Klan supporter shot in the dark

Associated Press/November 26, 2003

Tennessee -- A bullet fired in the air during a Ku Klux Klan initiation ceremony came down and struck a participant in the head, critically injuring him.

Gregory Allen Freeman, 45, was charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in the incident, which wounded Jeffery Murr, 24.

About 10 people, including two children, had gathered for the white supremacist group's ceremony.

The man who was being initiated was blindfolded, tied with a noose to a tree and shot with paint ball guns as Mr Freeman fired a pistol into the air to provide the sound of real gunfire, Sheriff Ed Graybeal said.

A bullet struck Mr Murr on the top of the head and exited at the bottom of his skull, authorities said.