Panama City Beach - Drunk, Stoned, Negligent Discharge & Hits Sunbather

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PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — A 20-year-old Georgia man was cleaning sand from his gun while on a condo balcony when it accidentally discharged, according to an arrest report.

Damien Chhoeung of Fayetteville was also drinking when he removed the gun from his backpack and attempted to “get sand out of his firearm,” police wrote. However, Chhoeung’s cleaning method was “reckless” and “negligent” and the weapon fired. The gunshot hit a woman in the leg while she was walking on the beach near Chhoeung’s condo.

The woman suffered “great bodily harm,” and was rushed to a local hospital.

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“All of a sudden, the girl that was in front of me started screaming ‘I think I got shot’,” Jerome Brown, another witness, said

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They say it took place at the beachside at Majestic Beach Towers Resort. Officers said they were dispatched to the scene following a report of an 18-year-old from Dallas, Georgia was shot in her leg. She was reportedly transported to a hospital where she underwent surgery and is in stable condition.

April Pamintuan said she and her friends were visiting Panama City Beach, staying at the Majestic Beach Towers Resort, and were on the beach when the shot rang out.

“We were just sitting on the beach, just enjoying the view and we heard the gunshot, initially we thought it was a firecracker,” Pamintuan said. “So, we all kind of turn around to look, and then I saw a dad in front of me telling his daughters to run, so I’m like ‘what are we running from?’”

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“When we were pulling in [to the hotel], there were just cops coming in from everywhere,” Blake Smith, who is visiting the area and staying at the resort with his family, said. “When we got to the front of the hotel, everybody had AR-15s and big rifles and we just had no clue of what was going on.”

Police said as they continued to investigate, they learned Chhoeung left the scene with an accomplice, identified as Hunter Hatfield, 21. They said the gun had been given to Chhoeung’s brother, Elijah, 19, who reportedly threw it in the woods off Richard Jackson Boulevard. Police said they later found it.

All three have been booked in the Bay County Jail and have been charged with the following:

- Damien Marrell Chhoeung, 20, of Fayetteville, Ga., improper exhibition of a firearm, discharging a firearm in public, possession of cannabis, tampering with evidence, and firing a deadly missile.


- Elijah Chhoeung, 19, of Fayetteville, Ga., tampering with evidence.

- Hunter Hatfield, 21, of Bruce, Miss., tampering with evidence.

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