GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Four National Guard members were treated and released from a hospital after suffering shrapnel wounds in an accident at a marksmanship competition near here.
The soldiers were wounded Saturday during a regional combat rifle competition at a rifle club south of Grand Forks.
Officials said soldiers in the competition were in a pit with a metal barrier when a low-flying bullet hit the metal frame and ricocheted.
Lt. Col. Donald Wingerter called it a "freak accident."
"One of the individuals took some shrapnel in the neck, and the other it was in the forearm and some of it was in the back of the arm," he said.
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Three of the men are from Minnesota and one is from North Dakota, but the Guard declined to release their hometowns. They were not identified.