Richmond Times-Dispatch
RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia Department of Corrections officer was wounded in an apparent accident Thursday morning when a firearm carried by another officer discharged in a parking lot near VCU Medical Center in downtown Richmond.
A department spokeswoman said the officers had taken an inmate to the hospital’s secure medical ward and that the incident took place after they transferred custody of the inmate to other officers at the hospital and returned to the parking lot. Police and Virginia Commonwealth University officials said the shooting was reported just after 8:15 a.m. at a school-owned lot in the 800 block of North Seventh Street.
The corrections officer was taken to the hospital, where an update on his condition was not immediately available.
Police detectives were investigating initial reports that the corrections officer may have been trying to clean his gun when it discharged.
The identities of the officers involved were not released, but officials said the officer carrying the weapon is a sergeant.