September 28, 2017 - 4:39 AM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A retired sheriff's officer in Florida was injured when a trainee fired a gun with a blank at him during a use of force training exercise.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Director Tom Hackney says Chip Williams was training 10 officers Wednesday at the Criminal Justice Center in Jacksonville.
The Florida Times-Union reports Williams initially fired a weapon and corrections officer Tyler Kovacs was supposed to respond with his own gun loaded with soap-tipped simulated bullets.
Hackney says Kovacs took the blank gun from the instructor's waistband and placed it against the instructor's back and fired. He says there was no projectile, just a blank. But it had gunpowder, which penetrated Williams' skin.
He says all instructors wear protective gear and it's the first time an incident such as this has occurred.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017