‘I didn’t want to know what it was’

By Jennifer Shrader

Staff writer

A firefighter injured Friday by a discharging gun in a burning house is back at the station this morning – but only to tell his story to his colleagues.

Doctors have told Jeff Veal, 40, to stay off duty for two weeks to give a gunshot wound to his right side time to mend.

“They said it would heal and scar tissue would form over it or it’d just work itself out,” Veal said. “(The bullet) is still in there.”

Veal and fellow Troup County firefighters responded to a working trailer fire at 123 Murphy Road on Friday night. Veal said he was standing in the doorway knocking back flames and preparing to enter the house when a gun inside – he still doesn’t know what kind – discharged.

“I heard the shot and I felt a burning in my side,” he said. “I knew what it sounded like. I didn’t want to know what it was.”

The bullet lodged about 2 inches from the left of his armpit.

Veal went to a supervisor, who found the gunshot wound. He was treated at the scene and airlifted to Grady Hospital in Atlanta “as a precaution,” he said.

Ironically, Veal lives about four houses away from burned residence and its owner, Bruce Gesselman.

“I knew who he was” before the fire, Veal said.

Veal has been a firefighter for 15 years, but has never been injured on a fire like this.

“It is a pretty rare occurrence,” he said. “It’s one of the hazards of the job.”

Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.