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Man Charged With Shooting Teen Claims He Thought Loaded Gun Wouldn’t Go Off When He Pulled The Trigger
When officers responded to Victoria Busch's shooting, Spencer Pruitt allegedly told them "he always does this and does not know why his gun fired a round this time."
A man who allegedly killed a teenager by shooting her in the neck claims he thought the loaded gun wouldn’t go off when he pulled the trigger.
Spencer Pruitt, 24, was hanging out with 19-year-old Victoria Busch and some friends at a condo in Florida last week when he and a friend started showing off their firearms, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Georgia newspaper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pruitt allegedly told cops there’s a “game” he likes to play with his gun: He loads the magazine, but doesn’t let it fully seat — then, he points the gun at a friend and pulls the trigger, Alabama outlet CBS 42 reports.
Normally, it doesn’t go off. But in the early hours of September 7, it allegedly did.
Busch was rushed to the hospital at 3 a.m. with a gunshot wound in the neck, according to local paper Panama City News Herald. She later died from her injuries.
Pruitt allegedly told responding officers he was confused about what had happened: “He always does this and does not know why his gun fired a round this time,” he said, according to the affidavit.
Prior to Busch’s shooting, Pruitt told police he and a friend had been pointing their guns at each other “in a joking manner,” according to Louisiana outlet WNTZ. Police said he claimed at one point he aimed his firearm at the friend and pulled the trigger — but the gun was unloaded at the time and didn’t go off. He allegedly said he then put in the magazine and took aim at Busch, the outlet reports.
Pruitt has been charged with manslaughter and is being held on a $200,000 bond, according to an online inmate search.
Heather Rypien, a friend of Busch’s family, told Oxygen.com Busch was an “energetic, outgoing, beautiful girl," who had once considered a career in modeling.
Busch had traveled from her home in Georgia to Daytona, Fla. for the city’s Labor Day Weekend Truck Meet. She then traveled with Pruitt to the condo — however, Rypien said that none of Busch’s family knew the man or any of the friends Busch was with at the time of the shooting.
Rypien has started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover funeral costs, medical bills, and future legal fees associated with this case. As of Tuesday, the campaign has raised over $35,000.
It’s unclear whether Pruitt has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
