'Ginger, No!' Nebraska Dog Inside A Truck Shoots Human Driver In Another Car With A Shotgun

We've heard of calling shotgun to claim the passenger seat, but this is ridiculous. That's right folks, just when you thought 2026 couldn't get any wilder, a dog somehow shot a woman with a shotgun in Scottsbluff, Nebraska on May 23. Talk about a ruff day; the victim was sitting at a stop light with her arm resting out of the window, minding her own business, when a stray shotgun pellet struck her right upper arm. We've covered some wacky dog-in-a-car news before, but this one might take the pup cup.

The culprit? Ultimately a careless owner, as is usually the case with canine violence. A dog left in the back seat of a pickup truck in a convenience store parking lot allegedly moved from one side of the vehicle to the other, and triggered a live, loaded shotgun that shot through the door of the pickup, and ultimately struck the victim. Given that the injury was to her right arm, we can glean that she must've been sitting on the passenger side of the vehicle at the time she was shot, but thankfully her injury is not believed to be life-threatening.

It is against the law to have a loaded shotgun in your car in the state of Nebraska, so odds are the dog owner and pickup truck driver was breaking the law. Nebraska law states "it shall be unlawful to have or carry, except as permitted by law, any shotgun having shells in either the chamber, receiver, or magazine in or on any vehicle on any highway."

Details surrounding the incident, such as the victim's name, current condition, the breed of the dog, name of the dog (though we suspect it was Ginger) and the type of vehicles which were involved in the freak accident are slim at the moment. KNOP News reports, "Officers were called to Short Stop at 2002 Avenue I after receiving a report that a person had been shot by a BB gun at 12:07 p.m. While on the way, they were informed that the incident involved a shotgun. Upon arrival, officers found a truck with an attached camper. The passenger-side door panel of the vehicle had taken damage consistent with a shotgun blast."

Scottsbluff police, who are still investigating the incident, said that the owner of the dog-and-shotgun-toting pickup truck had pulled into the Short Stop convenience store when the incident occurred. While the damage could have been significantly worse, were anyone directly in the line of fire, there is no excuse for such gross negligence causing an easily preventable shooting. I'm not going to tempt fate to ask how the year can get any weirder, but I bet we'll find out tomorrow. Stay safe out there, big dogs.