PHILADELPHIA — George Abrahams says the gun went off on its own, inside his pants pocket, as he walked down the stairs in his home in Northwest Philadelphia.
It was June 19, 2020, about 9 p.m. He remembers the pain of the bullet tearing into his right thigh, and the fear of seeing so much blood. He asked his sister for something he could fashion into a tourniquet, to slow the bleeding, and managed to tie a belt around his leg. Later, at the hospital, he was scared for his life, and wondered whether he'd ever see his daughter again.
"I was in so much shock that I couldn't even scream," recalled Abrahams, a painting contractor who was familiar with firearms from his eight years in the Army.
