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NEWINGTON — A Colorado man facing charges in his wife's shooting death is suing Sig Sauer, claiming the gun manufacturer is to blame because the weapon went off without him pulling the trigger.
Justin Schneider recently filed the negligence and wrongful death lawsuit in federal district court against the gunmaker on behalf of him and his wife's estate. Sig Sauer's headquarters are located in New Hampshire at Pease International Tradeport.
The suit mirrors lawsuits filed across the country involving the semi-automatic gun known as the P320.
Schneider is being represented by attorney Benjamin King, of Douglas, Leonard & Garvey. Attempts to reach him were not immediately successful. The Concord attorney also represents Kyle Guay, of Hillsboro, who filed a similar suit against Sig Sauer in July 2020 alleging his Sig P320 pistol fired without him pulling the trigger as well as Derick Ortiz, who filed a class-action lawsuit in 2019 against the gunmaker alleging the P320 pistol could inadvertently discharge when dropped due to a design flaw.
Schneider is facing manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges in Otero County, Colorado in connection to his wife Wendy Schneider's death in December of 2018.
He is scheduled for a pre-trial conference Feb. 4 with a jury trial slated for March 2.
Wendy’s daughter, Rylea Howe, said she wasn’t aware of her stepfather’s lawsuit against Sig Sauer. However, the police I have been a police officer for five years, in my training and experience guns just don’t go off,” Howe said. “They are mishandled and that’s what causes them to fire.”
Howe said she was living with her mother and Schneider in 2018 but was not home when the shooting occurred.
She says there were issues in the marriage and that her mother was getting ready to leave him. She said an exam of the gun by authorities showed there was nothing wrong with it, and that her stepfather was experienced with firearms and knew not to point a loaded weapon at someone. officer doesn’t believe the gun was at fault or Schneider’s story that her mother's death was an accident.