An 18-year-old Florida woman was only slightly injured this week when she was shot by her friend's oven, police said.
Aalaya Walker was visiting a friend in St. Petersburg Monday when they decided they wanted some late-night waffles, The Tamps Bay Times reported. So Walker began preheating the oven — unaware that her friend, JJ Sandy, 25, was storing a magazine from his .45-caliber Glock 21 in the oven.
The magazine exploded about 9 p.m. ET, spraying casing fragments at high speed and striking Walker. She managed to pick some of the fragments out of her leg and chest and then took a bus to the hospital, where she was treated and released.
Sandy told police he'd stored the gun in a drawer but had stored the magazine in the oven. Four rounds were in the 13-capacity magazine, he said.
Gun and ammunition references indicate that the .45-caliber bullets commonly used in Glocks can explode at temperatures as low as 280 degrees — or even lower if they've been exposed to heat for a long time, which can degrades the structure.
Sandy "stated that he does not have a temperature gauge on the oven so he estimates the temperature based on how far the knob is turned," according to the police report, which was obtained by the Times. "I observed that the inside of the oven was damaged."
In a memorable 2007 episode, the popular science TV show "Mythbusters" found in several experiments that bullets can explode "once the oven was hot enough."
"Without a gun barrel to contain and direct the propellant gases, the bullets did not develop enough speed to pierce the glass or steel portions of the oven. The shell casings actually caused more damage than the bullets," it found — essentially reproducing what police said happened Monday.
Sandy wasn't charged because he had a proper concealed weapons permit.
