Reenactor at a Kansas Museum Accidentally Shot During Performance

The Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita, Kansas prides itself as a “living” history museum that takes you back to the Midwestern cattle town days of 1865. But reality came crashing down on the museum when a performer was accidentally shot with a bullet during a reenactment of a "cops and robbers" scene.

The incident happened during a reenactment of "Coppers Raising the Bootleggers,” located at Trapper’s Cabin, when one unidentified 24-year-old performer was left with a gunshot wound to the upper body, reported The Wichita Eagle.

The gun used in the scene was supposed to be filled with blanks not bullets, the Eagle wrote. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries and is expected to recover, according to a statement by police.

According to the museum’s Facebook post, Friday night was their Roaring ‘20s event, with food and drinks for ages 18 and up. The event was scheduled from 7 p.m. to midnight. 

Lt. Chris Marceau said that when officers arrived at the museum at 9:05 p.m., the scene was a bit “chaotic,” because of the large number of people involved in the reenactment. “This is definitely a unique situation - one that is a first for me,” he told the media at the museum.

Police said they believe it was an accident and said that other participants in the show were interviewed and cooperative with investigators. 

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