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Wounded officer now stable
Published Friday, October 26, 2007
NATCHEZ — The Natchez Police officer who reportedly shot himself while cleaning his gun earlier this month underwent a series of surgeries over the past few days and was stable at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson Thursday.
Doctors operated on Clifton Eric Kaho, 29, to address an infection near his heart, Kaho’s father, Clifton Kaho Sr., said Thursday.
“The gunshot wound carried a lot of germs, and that’s where the problem occurred,” Kaho said.
Officer Kaho is being kept sedated, his father said.
“They don’t want to get him agitated,” he said.
Thursday’s surgery was to make sure the infection was gone, he said.
“Thanks to God, that’s been mostly eliminated,” he said. “They’re trying to prevent it from happening again.”
Kaho is still in the intensive care unit and is still using a breathing tube. No release date has been set, his father said.
“We’re just waiting and letting him heal,” he said. “He’s going to be fine. He’s mending real good.”
Kaho said he appreciated all the good will from southwest Mississippi residents.
“Just keep praying for us,” Kaho said. “We’ll overcome.”
Officer Kaho was assigned to the metro narcotics unit. He had been on leave and was headed back to work Oct. 3 when the gun he was cleaning in his apartment fired.
A single bullet entered his upper left chest, and part of the bullet grazed his heart.
Kaho’s girlfriend, who was in the apartment in another room at the time, called the police.
He was transported to Natchez Community Hospital and then to UMC.
Comments
Posted by DZNUTZ (anonymous) on October 26, 2007 at 2:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good news. God's speed in your recovery....
Posted by buttercup26 (anonymous) on October 26, 2007 at 6:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
yay!! we got an update!! and YAY!! OUR OFFICER IS MAKING A SPEEDY RECOVERY!! COME ON HOME NOW!!
GOD BLESS!!
Posted by plpriest (anonymous) on October 26, 2007 at 9:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
HOW DO YOU CLEAN A LOADED GUN ??????!!!!!!!
Posted by jayd (anonymous) on October 26, 2007 at 11:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The first response should be NEVER!!! I would imagine that if it (cleaning a loaded gun) HAD to be done, one would do it very, very carefully. However, was it not written somewhere that the officer had cleaned the gun, put it back together, and THEN the discharge??? So now, common courtesy and human decency dictate that we thank and continue to thank the Lord that this officer is still here with his loved ones and us. Have a blessed day everyone!
Posted by jaquan32 (anonymous) on October 26, 2007 at 12:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am happy to hear that my classmate Clifton kaho is doing better. Clifton is a standup guy. He is one of the best friends a person could ever have.
Jefferson Co. High
c/o 96
Posted by destiny (anonymous) on October 26, 2007 at 2:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Prayers do work. Miracles follow. It will be an uphill battle for Officer Kaho and he will need all the encouragement we can give him with our prayers. Good luck to him and his family in this terrible time of anxiety. All good wishes for a speedy and full recovery.
Posted by thetruthhurts (anonymous) on October 26, 2007 at 3:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Class of 96??? Jeez I am getting old.... lol Thanks to God this man survived to learn a hard lesson and reminding others of the dangers of handling guns, even cleaning them. ANYONE can get hurt. Accidents happen. I will be glad when he is out and recovered and can speak of the details of this incident. I am surprised the Democrat followed up with this story, I hope they will continue to do so and to follow up with ALL stories and not just the guts and gore of what reporters seem to think ALL of the population want to hear....Thanks
Posted by luv2travel (anonymous) on October 26, 2007 at 4:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
May god be with him on his next cleaning or discharging of a bullet which ever it was....
Posted by stateofnatchez (anonymous) on October 27, 2007 at 12:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
to those confused about why this happened...........
I would guess that he was about to remove the slide and had pulled the trigger (a necessary step) without checking the chamber thoroughly. And I'm assuming it was a Glock, which makes it an even bigger headache unless someone has shown you or you already know the "gunsmith hold" for this particular firearm.
As crazy as it seems, we are all prone to human error even if you think you didn't see or feel the round in the chamber. I've gone over this a few times in my head and I can only guess that he might have used an unsafe "hold" on the firearm.
My best advice to anyone cleaning a firearm is to never even clean it with ammunition in the same room. Take it out and put it elsewhere.
And if he was an avid shooter who visited the target range at least once a week, then you sometimes get into a dull routine and forget.......and it's a little different for those of us who are not required to bring a firearm to work everyday, so give him a break when you are being critical....it could happen to you or someone you care about.
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