A former staffer to Joe Biden shot and killed his girlfriend on March 24 in San Francisco. He was arrested the following day. Police arrived around 10:45 pm to discover that Samantha Emge, 22, was suffering from a gunshot wound. She died at the hospital. Nation Wood, 25, claims he was dry-firing a firearm, which led to the shooting. He’s been charged with involuntary manslaughter (via Fox KVTU):
KTVU has learned that the man charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his girlfriend in San Francisco's Sunset District last week told police he was "dry-firing" a gun that went off and shot her while she was showering.
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The suspect, Nation Wood, 25, is out on bail after San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins charged him in the March 24 shooting at 22nd Avenue and Santiago Street. A Superior Court judge set Wood's bail at $300,000. Wood pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Friday.
Dry firing a gun is when you pull the trigger of an unloaded firearm. But in this case, the firearm was primed when Samantha Emge, 22, a recent San Francisco State University graduate, was shot and killed.
When the story of the shooting first broke, District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong, a mayoral appointee, had said the discharge of the gun may have been unintentional.
Emge had worked in interior design, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Wood, who had also studied at San Francisco State University, worked in security, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was scheduled to leave San Francisco soon to serve in the National Guard.
He’s now out on bail (via ABC 7 News):
A week after the fatal shooting of his 22-year-old girlfriend, Samantha Emge, at their San Francisco Sunset District home, 25-year-old Nation Wood was in court on Wednesday.
"He is on electronic monitoring. His family posted bail. No weapons consent to warrant search and work with pre-trial services. All that he is going to do," said Paula Canny, Wood's attorney.
Emge's parents and Nation Wood's dad were present. Wood appeared on Zoom from a hospital mental health unit. His attorney said he was admitted after posting $300,000 bail and is currently under psychiatric evaluation.
"We don't want to further compound this horrible tragedy by him ending his own life- which is what I think he wants to do now," said Canny.
This seems like a tragic accident, but we need more details. Did he forget to check his firearm? Where the hell was he doing this dry-firing exercise? Even if Wood checked and knew it was unloaded, you shouldn’t point it in any direction where someone could get shot. This is firearm safety 101, which you as TH readers already know.