By KATIE JOHNSON
Niles Daily Star

No charges will be filed against a Niles woman who shot herself in the arm in an attempt to receive medical care for a pre-existing injury.

According to Berrien County Prosecuting Attorney Art Cotter, Kathy Myers, 41, of Michigan Street will not be charged after shooting her arm on June 10 to get assistance for a rotator cuff injury. Myers did not have health insurance and claimed she was unable to obtain medical treatment for an injury she sustained after losing her job. She received treatment for the gunshot injury, but not for the pre-existing problem.

Cotter said he is not pursuing charges because “no one else was in danger” as a result of the incident. Cotter said if a charge was filed, it would have likely been for reckless discharge of a firearm.

Cotter noted that Myers was quoted in local media of saying she will never shoot herself (in a suicide attempt), “and that didn’t help.” Media from around the world interviewed Myers about this unusual case.

Myers told the Star “I regret that I missed. … Out of all this I was really hoping, if anything, some doctor out there or someone, some clinic, would say, ‘Hey, we’ll help her out.'”

Cotter said he has never seen a case like Myers’ in his years as an attorney.

“Certainly I hope through the social services available that she will seek that out,” Cotter said. “The answer isn’t making yourself worse by shooting yourself. I wish she had thought out other options.”

He pointed out that this case should be an example as to how going to such extremes for medical help can be fruitless.

“I think the lesson learned here is it was a stupid thing to do,” Cotter said.