Justin McCall was sentenced to a lengthy prison term for a series of burglaries, in part, because he shot himself in the leg. (Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office)
A Florida man who fired his weapon and shot himself with it during at least one burglary was recently sentenced to spend decades in prison.
Justin McCall, 28, was found guilty on multiple burglary charges by retired judge Paul A. Rasmussen, who took senior status in the Sunshine State’s First Circuit Judicial Circuit over a decade ago. The judge sentenced the defendant to 20 years in prison on March 6, State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden said in a Monday press release.
McCall was charged with 13 separate crimes in relation to a series of automobile burglaries that occurred between late October 2022 and early January 2023, the state attorney’s office said.
“In addition to stealing miscellaneous items from the vehicles he burglarized, McCall stole a firearm from an unsecured vehicle,” the press release notes. “McCall then proceeded to burglarize another vehicle with the stolen firearm in hand. While rummaging through that vehicle, McCall accidentally discharged the firearm and shot himself in the leg which resulted in McCall pleading for help from the very person whose vehicle he had just burglarized.”
The firearm theft that resulted in his injury, however, was not the defendant’s first, law enforcement noted. At the time of his arrest for the burglaries, he was on probation for grand theft of a firearm. He was also out on bond for two additional burglaries when he fired the unlucky shot that finally found him out.
At the scene of the shooting, responding deputies with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office discovered McCall had stolen clothing from some of the vehicles in question and was wearing those clothes at the time, the state attorney’s office said.
McCall shot himself on Jan. 4, 2023 – he was found by OCSO deputies with a gunshot wound to the leg, the sheriff’s office said. He was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. An ensuing investigation conducted along with the Crestview Police Department found that the defendant had been captured by several home video surveillance cameras breaking into vehicles in the area.
“A homeowner on Zach Avenue says she discovered someone had broken into her car and taken her purse,” the OCSO said in a press release at the time of the arrest. “Later while watching a neighbor’s surveillance video, she saw McCall on camera wearing her white Sperry boots, which had been in her home’s garage.”
The defendant is expected to serve a full 20 years in the Florida Department of Corrections under the terms of the state’s 10-20-Life statute, which mandates strict and lengthy prison sentences for felonies committed with the use of a gun. In this case, the defendant shooting himself in the leg appears to have been found by the judge to have triggered the statute.
McCall has 13 felony guilty convictions since 2012 in Florida, including six for burglary, and four for grand theft.
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