Woman Charged After Local Aussie Band’s Guitarist Accidentally Shoots Himself

A Melbourne musician’s haphazard run in with a handgun has landed him in hospital and resulted in a local woman being charged with illegally possessing an unregistered firearm.

Daniel Unwin, who plays guitar and sings in local band Crossfire Hurricane, was working his day job as a removalist for Man with a Van in Essendon on Tuesday when he found the gun on top of a wardrobe.

“He’d just started working for Man With A Van and he was on the last job for the day. He and his workmate were moving a cupboard and whilst they were moving it, his mate said, ‘Oh, what’s that on top there?’ and it was a handgun,” bassist Callum Humphrys told Tone Deaf.

“So his mate picked it up and Daniel asked to have a look at it. They started looking at it to see if it was a fake gun or a real one and as Daniel was holding it, he shot himself in the finger.”

Unwin reportedly shot himself through his “left middle finger”, though avoided hitting any bone or tendons. “He had to go to hospital and it turns out, it was an illegal handgun and it wasn’t registered,” said Callum.

“It shouldn’t be too bad, because he’s very lucky, it missed the bone and any tendons, so it’s just sort of a flesh wound, but he’s still going to be out of action for a while.”

As Nine News reports, police and paramedics responded to reports of gunfire and have charged a 31-year-old mother-of-two from Essendon with possessing an unregistered firearm and not holding a licence to hold a firearm.

“My third day on the job, so good start,” Unwin joked. Thanks to some strong painkillers, the guitarist remained calm throughout the incident and even sent a Snapchat from the back of the ambulance and called his girlfriend.

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“I was under the influence of the green whistle then, so I was nice and calm. I think she needed the green whistle after that,” the 21-year-old told Nine News.

Man with a Van director Tim Bishop told the outlet Unwin can expect some gentle ribbing when he returns to work after he recovers. “We’re a little bit jealous that he’s just come in and he’s already got the best story,” he said.

Doctors say Unwin’s recovery will take three to six weeks and the guitarist will require plastic surgery to repair damage to his finger. “We’ve got a few shows coming up and we’re going to have to rearrange a few of those, which is going to be a bit of a shame,” Callum told Tone Deaf.