A local police officer in Torrevieja suffered minor shrapnel injuries after a colleague accidentally discharged his service weapon while handling it in the armoury at the main station. The incident occurred on August 5th, but has only recently come to light.
The weapon was loaded, and the officer who fired it did not thoroughly check the chamber. Police headquarters has provisionally confiscated the officer’s weapon due to possible negligence or serious incompetence, while the officer himself has acknowledged the seriousness of the incident and apologised to both the injured colleague and the rest of the force. The disciplinary proceedings remain open. The officer will now recover his weapon after completing firearms training.
The incident took place in the armoury. The officer was preparing his pistol to begin his afternoon shift when a shot was fired.
The officer explained that, upon drawing his pistol to begin his shift, he had not thoroughly checked that there was a round in the chamber. The bullet travelled toward the lower part of the area where he was standing and indirectly struck another officer. The bullet’s trajectory left marks on both one of the armouries and the wall.
Handling outside the unloading drawer
The incident report indicates that the officer who made the accidental discharge was performing the disarming and checking operations of the regulation pistol, but did not use the discharge box or cold zone specifically designated for these manoeuvres.
The agent allegedly handled the pistol in the general transit area of the armoury and, by activating its mechanisms without having properly checked the chamber, an accidental cartridge detonation occurred.
The projectile reportedly hit the pavement and fragmented. The shrapnel then struck his companion, who was in the same room.
“There’s nothing left to do but apologise.”
The officer who fired the shot, a veteran member of the force, admitted that he had not thoroughly checked for a cartridge in the chamber and attributed his oversight, most likely, to “haste and stress” while preparing the weapon. According to his account, the bullet exited toward the lower left corner of its compartment in the gun safe, and a fragment, possibly metallic, struck the other officer.
According to the same sources, he also explicitly acknowledged the seriousness of the incident. In his report, he maintains that “there is nothing left to do but apologise,” especially to the colleague who was injured and, in general, to all members of the staff for the improper use of the gun.
The injured officer was placing the Taser body camera on a tray when he saw the person who accidentally discharged the weapon handling his gun in front of the armoury. At that moment, the gun went off. The injured officer stated that he felt the discharge and then a slight pain in his right arm.
Initially, it was thought that some shrapnel might have remained lodged in his arm, so the police officer went to the Quirón Hospital in Torrevieja. There, X-rays were taken, which ruled out the presence of foreign bodies, and he received superficial treatment and a tetanus shot. The medical report classified his injuries as minor.
The open case considers that the police officer may not only have mishandled the gun, but also mounted it and pulled the trigger outside of the safety devices enabled for these operations without realising that it was loaded.
Repeated precautionary measure and training
As a result of the incident, two files were opened. One was a disciplinary file, which remains open until all investigations are completed, and the other was to provisionally withdraw the officer’s service weapon due to possible negligence or serious incompetence in its use and for having caused minor injuries to a colleague. This second file has already been resolved and closed with a firearms training course.
During September, a mandatory annual police firearms training exercise was conducted. This training activity covered safety regulations and the use of firearms, including safe handling, disassembly and assembly, chamber checks, and basic firing techniques. The officer who was the subject of the disciplinary proceedings successfully completed the exercise. Approximately 40 temporary officers, out of the 180 who make up the force (including command staff), assumed their permanent positions just over a year ago as part of the stabilisation process. Previously, they were not authorised to carry firearms.
The cold room or storage area of a police armoury is the space specifically designed for the safe handling of firearms, especially when loading, unloading, or checking for ammunition in the chamber. It typically includes a sand tray or discharge chute, toward which the firearm must be pointed so that, in the event of an accidental discharge, the projectile is contained. The accident at police headquarters occurred in the armoury but outside the cold room.
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