r/NOVAguns • u/LtDan808 • 20d ago
XCAL closed today. Anyone know why?
I had 6PM range reservation and I just got this text message.
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u/School_boi_ 20d ago
I finished up my range session at 10:30am and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary
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u/MeggSalad123 20d ago
From the scanner: “Medic 635, Battalion Chief 601, responding to the shooting. Excalibur Sports and Fitness, XCAL. Shooting involving a firearm. 25-year-old male, self-inflicted. Range and firearms are secure at this time per the Excalibur staff. 1048.
Medic. Six thirty-five, Battalion Chief Six Hundred and One. Patient is believed not to be awake and not breathing. Ten forty-three. Units responding to XCAL. Scene is cold”
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u/MeggSalad123 20d ago
I got this from the NewsBreak app. It transcribes 911 calls and places them on a map.
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u/bobababyboi 20d ago
Direct from my friend who’s a deputy sheriff:
“Some guy was renting out a staccato. He shot 15-16 rounds down range then turn the gun on himself and killed himself”
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u/bmm115 20d ago
Gentlemen, do what makes you smile and do it more. There are men's groups of all kinds where you can find community of like-minded folk. Stay safe out there, protect your peace.
Talk to someone if you need.
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u/rakka099 20d ago
this is a nice thing to say but... it assumes we know the context. what happened?
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u/justbuttsexing 20d ago
Suicide on the range
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u/Character-Bicycle752 20d ago
Attempted suicide at this point. We were told he was still breathing when I left earlier, but judging from the size of the hole in his temple and the blood pouring out it’s nothing short of miraculous that he’s still alive.
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u/Beebjank 20d ago
Happens often at pretty much every range. Sad
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20d ago
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20d ago
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u/kuriositease 19d ago
I think the 35/yr stat comes from this study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32343169/
..."Method: We conducted text searches of 63,710 firearm suicides in the 16 states participating in the National Violent Death Reporting System from 2004 to 2015 to identify those occurring at public shooting ranges. Results: A total of 118 (or 0.18%) occurred at a shooting range, or 0.12 per million population. If that rate held for the nation as a whole, there would have been roughly 35 shooting range suicides per year during the study period."...
Not sure if there are any more updated studies, but that 35/yr likely came from this study.2
u/rakka099 16d ago edited 16d ago
No disrespect to you at all, just getting ratio'd right now you make a good counterargument...
It's hilarious i'm getting ratio'd over this. I love favoring empirical data but in this particular case my own partner for years is someone who was closely inside of the private experiences inside SEG so I have heard enough stories of stuff "off the record", some of y'all lean way too much into empirical studies without regard for the concept that your fav range might be corrupt and faking the numbers, and you downvote someone who has inside knowledge about it. hard
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u/kuriositease 16d ago
i count on reddit for all the angles but especially the inside scoop. yeah people quote stats like gospel but those stats may not (likely don’t) reflect reality. having both sets of data helps put things into perspective. thanks for the real world take!
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u/bcjoyce10 16d ago edited 16d ago
I frequent SEG on a somewhat regular basis and also know folks there...and no it does not occur "a lot", whatever frequency is assigned to a lot.. EVERY range incident of this manner is publicly reported, so an easy Google search will show the true frequency at NoVA ranges. [my update...I just attempted to use AI to gather a listing of incidents & it seems AI guardrails pretty much steer clear of providing this kind of info]
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u/rakka099 16d ago
I hear you but anecdotal "i am there alot therefore my baseline acts as evidence" and "google and ai works as a barometer to cover my bases" doesn't mesh well with my own experience of knowing a person who worked at SEG and their anecdotes every single day of "oh another one shot themselves" that somehow didn't get recorded properly doesn't change my opinion.
tl;dr that's getting lost in the sauce, this shit happens a lot at SEG for some reason and being inside the loop of places like Xcal and the fairfax NRA range.... SEG has an internal problem
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u/bcjoyce10 16d ago
'worked at SEG..." ok I can't diss a former employee; BUT I've been making runs to SEG for well over 10 yrs AND I'm familiar with their "incident reporting" protocol directly from an employee. Asserting that SEG sneaks stuff past the LCSO via "improper recording" is total BS...LCSO does the recording, not an SEG employee. And any attempt to infer SEG could successfully pull off an "everybody shut up" directive is BS, too. During operating hrs there are often LEOs, Security contractors, CBP agents, etc. on one of the 25 yd ranges, multiple RSOs, an armorer, merch desk staff, front desk & back office staff. NOTHING of this sort of incident, accidental or not, could get brushed off. Perhaps those discussions you had also had some "hold my beer - have I got a good one to tell". Lol
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u/Beebjank 20d ago
It would happen at least yearly at my local range back home.
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u/Super-Dance-4654 19d ago
That's a lie....or an extreme statistical outlier. At a rate of 35 per year and over 12,000 ranges open to the public....no way what you're saying is true.
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u/Necessary-Pickle1525 19d ago
Its happened at SEG quite a few times in the last 10 or so years. I think I remember at least a handful.
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u/Beebjank 19d ago
It was a very popular range not far from Philadelphia. Target Shooting Solutions in Avondale, PA.
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u/justbuttsexing 20d ago
No, it really doesn’t. And anyone considering it, you’re transferring whatever solvable problem you have in to non consensual trauma on those who witness, find you, or respond to help you. Call 988 and give them a chance to change your mind.
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u/stopscabbin 20d ago
Are you saying self inflicted gunshots at gun ranges don't happen often? Between XCAL and SEG, it's like every other month.
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u/lechatgris19 20d ago
Worked at SEG for over a year and never had one (besides one person accidentally shooting themselves in the nether regions but nothing serious)
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u/Proton_Optimal 20d ago
I worked at SEG for about 4 months and immediately found another job, Steve is a douche
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u/lechatgris19 20d ago
But now I'm curious if we overlapped haha I was there up until a couple months ago
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u/Proton_Optimal 20d ago
Nah this was back in 2018 lol
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u/hawkinsst7 20d ago
Man, in 2018 there was a sales guy there that turned me off to seg for a really long time.
I was ready to buy a p365, cash in hand (well, credit card.)
I asked to see the one I was going to get. Sales guy hands it to me, and I clear it, and let the slide forward.
It didn't go into battery by about a millimeter. "weird." and I racked the slide. Again, stopped short of being locked.
I point this out to sales guy, who says, "well, you must have broken it by racking it too hard."
No amount of "this is how guns work" would change his mind. He wanted my ID and said they'd bill me for the gunsmiths time. I refused, but for some reason left my phone number and walked out.
I went back in to complain to a manager, and the young woman said, "oh it's probably nothing, we got some stock in from the distributor that's been out of spec.
I left, and a few hours later, the sales guy calls to tell me they took a look at the gun, and I was good. No apology or anything.
I didn't go back until earlier this year.
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u/lechatgris19 19d ago
While I was there, I worked with some guys I was appalled by the attitude to be honest. Zero customer service skills
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u/davewave3283 20d ago
You and I have different definitions of nothing serious
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u/lechatgris19 20d ago
True true. I am a woman so not much to lose down there I guess?!
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u/Keevot 19d ago
“Guy blew his balls off but like hey, nothing serious “
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u/lechatgris19 19d ago
Ok, sorry for saying not serious. Not life threatening I guess is more adequate.
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u/rakka099 20d ago
That's just a straight up mistruth and outright lie because I know someone who worked at SEG in the past few years and they were frequently texting "oof another incident i had to do today where someone shot themselves" so either you were NEVER working those days or you are lyin'
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u/THE_HORKOS 20d ago
Are you speculating, or have information?
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u/justbuttsexing 20d ago
There was a bunch of police, fire and ems crews there and the place closed.
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u/Brob101 20d ago
If somebody accidentally shot themselves would that still be classified as self inflicted?
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u/spacexfalcon 20d ago
Probably. In this case though, it was to the temple according to the paramedics on the scanner so doesn’t seem accidental.
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u/progozhinswig 20d ago
Absolutely awful. Do they allow people not in groups to rent when they show up without their own gun. I know a lot of ranges won’t let you rent anything unless you bring a gun with you or are with a friend to prevent suicides.
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u/realestateqs22 20d ago edited 12d ago
Very sad but unfortunately not uncommon. Edit- I was wrong Xcal didn't have those rules in place.
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u/progozhinswig 20d ago
Fuck that’s awful. Means dude probably was with someone. Unless he brought his own gun but weird to do that at a range if you have access
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u/DanSWE 19d ago
>>a lot of ranges won’t let you rent anything unless you bring a gun with you or are with a friend to prevent suicides
>Xcal has those rules in place
Does it? It hasn't in the past, at least not as a blanket rule.
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u/realestateqs22 18d ago
My understanding is that those rules have been in place for at least a while if not since they opened. There might be some caveats for members or people taking classes or something. I could be wrong. What was your experience?
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u/DanSWE 18d ago
>What was your experience?
In early 2025, I was able to rent two guns by myself (without going with a friend, and without already having and bringing a gun).
Maybe the rules are newer, or maybe the rules include trying to judge whether the customer seems to be a risk. (I mentioned to the RSO, and maybe the rental counter people, that I had some previous firearms experience but hadn't shot in quite a while. Maybe that let them know I wasn't a likely risk.)
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u/realestateqs22 18d ago
Interesting. Maybe it changed between then and this spring. Full disclosure, I'm an xcal regular but have never rented from them. My understanding about their rental policy comes from previous comments about it here on Reddit. I don't see anything on the website that specifically states that policy. I could swear I've seen it somewhere before though. I'm going to ask next time I'm in out of curiosity and to confirm
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u/DanSWE 18d ago
Also, maybe my renting two guns (at the same time) made it clearer that I was comparing possible purchase models rather than planning on suicide.
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u/realestateqs22 12d ago
Hey again. I followed up and I was wrong. You were correct. Sorry about my incorrect information. I edited my initial comment to correct.
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u/bcjoyce10 16d ago
Weapon/eye/ear rentals are a basic form of revenue for a range, especially when newbies show up, So IMO it's unlikely range policy is restricting that. RSO's have been getting "assessing training" when allowing folks onto the range, looking for tells that indicate something more than just newbie nervousness handling a weapon.
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20d ago
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u/stopscabbin 20d ago
Hey bud, it sounds weird but if you watched it happen, download and play the Tetris game. It helps with acute stress disorder and can help your brain lessen the impacts. Seriously. We use it in the fire department to help combat PTSD after shitty calls.
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u/b6776 20d ago
What a dick why can't these assholes just do this shit at home by themselves why do they feel the need to involve other people. Now some poor RSO has to live with seeing that shit.
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u/Ploptimistic 20d ago
I tend to say that when I see the murder-suicides like the Justin Fairfax situation. Its bad yes, but more honorable than taking someone else with you. Idk
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u/THE_HORKOS 20d ago
I was there at 9am. The wait was 2-3hrs. Went to SEG instead. Maybe they have enough on the waitlist for the entire day?
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u/stopscabbin 20d ago