Grady County Undersheriff Shoots Self

Tuesday, October 10th 2006, 12:44 pm

By: News On 6

CHICKASHA, Okla. (AP) -- Grady County Undersheriff Irene Perske is hospitalized in fair condition in Oklahoma City after accidentally shooting herself in the neck while cleaning her gun.

Sheriff Kieran McMullen says Perske's .40 caliber Glock went off about 11 Monday night and the bullet went through her throat and out the back of her neck.

He says the hollow-point bullet missed Perske's windpipe, carotid artery and spinal cord.

McMullen says Perske called him and he got to her home as an ambulance was arriving. He says she was talking and smoking a cigarette when he arrived.

Perske spent 16 years as a Chickasha police officer before becoming undersheriff in April 2003.