For the second time in less than a year, a former military serviceman has pleaded guilty to accidentally shooting his pregnant wife in their Thomas Township home. As a result, a jail term is likely in his future.
Cameron H. Zuzula, 32, in late June appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Manvel Trice III and pleaded guilty to careless discharge of a firearm causing injury or death. The charge is a high court misdemeanor punishable by up to two years’ incarceration and a $2,000 fine.
Trice indicated he would sentence Zuzula to a maximum six months in the county jail.
Zuzula first pleaded guilty to the charge in August, with Trice at the time indicating he would impose a term of probation with no incarceration. The judge went back on this after receiving a presentence report indicating Zuzula’s wife said her husband was “playing with a gun when it went off and shot her.”
Trice called a hearing on the matter in November in which several witnesses, including Zuzula’s wife, testified.
Thomas Township Police Officer Brennan Ward testified he responded to the Zuzulas’ home in the 100 block of East Stark Road the evening of May 24, 2022. Zuzula’s mother had called 911 after her son called her to say he had accidentally shot his wife, Ward said.
Upon arrival, Ward found Zuzula rendering aid to his wife and applying a blood-clotting substance to her abdominal wound. Zuzula repeatedly told Ward he had been playing with a new handgun in his kitchen and was field stripping it when he pulled its trigger. Zuzula said he had thought the gun was unloaded, Ward testified.
The bullet took a finger off Zuzula’s left hand before striking his wife in her upper abdomen. The fetus survived the shooting.
Zuzula’s wife, Lindsay Zuzula, testified she and her husband were both in the U.S. Army National Guard when the shooting occurred. She described herself and her husband as experts in firearms, adding her husband had been a combat engineer.
“He’s the most amazing husband that I could have ever have been privileged to marry,” Lindsay Zuzula said. “He’s also the most amazing father. I don’t know anyone better.”
Lindsay Zuzula said she bought her husband a Glock 48 9mm on May 23 as a present for his 30th birthday the following day. “Playing with a gun” means familiarizing yourself with it, she testified. She maintained she has never felt endangered by her husband and is confident such an occurrence would not happen again.
When Judge Trice asked her if she was aware her husband had previously accidentally shot himself, she answered in the affirmative.
The prior incident occurred Jan. 15, 2016, in Crawford County’s Grayling Township and involved Cameron Zuzula shooting himself in his hand. Cameron Zuzula was charged with careless or reckless discharge of a firearm, but in April 2016 received a delayed sentence and the charge was subsequently dismissed.
That incident apparently did not cause Cameron Zuzula to find a new appreciation for firearm safety, warranting more than probation, Trice said. Defense attorney Russell J. Perry disagreed, saying both Zuzulas have lost their military careers as a result of the May 2022 shooting.
“If this were the first time this had happened, I would say, ‘OK, we could work with him,’” Trice countered. “But this is the second time that it has happened, and two people were hurt. Given the fact he was in the military, he should know safety is most important when handling a firearm. If anyone should understand that, it’s the police (and) it’s the military.”
Trice allowed Zuzula to withdraw his plea and set his case for trial.
Trice is now slated to sentence Zuzula on Aug. 12.
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