ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996               TAG: 9608050061
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY 

SNAGGED SHOTGUN FIRES; WOMAN KILLED

A Rocky Mount woman was killed Thursday in what police say was a shotgun accident.

Mary Frances Cooper, 49, was removing a shotgun from her husband's pickup truck on Doe Run Road, eight miles southeast of Rocky Mount, shortly after 5 p.m. when the gun discharged, Franklin County Sheriff's Lt. C.D. Wagner said.

The gun was an older model, single-barrel, hammer cock shotgun with no safety, Wagner said. As Cooper pulled on the weapon, the hammer snagged on something in the truck, causing the gun to discharge.

The shot went through her left hand and into her chest, Wagner said.

Rescue personnel worked on Cooper at the scene before she was airlifted to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Wagner said.

LENGTH: Short :   26 lines
KEYWORDS: FATALITY