HPD officer shot in apparent mishap at police academy

HOUSTON – An officer was wounded from “an apparent self-inflicted unintentional discharge” while training at the Houston Police Department Police Academy on Tuesday morning.

The male officer was injured at about 11:15 a.m. at the academy, located in the 17000 block of Aldine Westfield Road.

HPD said in a tweet Tuesday that he is conscious and stable and will be hospitalized at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

The officer was in training on the range with other detectives from the Major Offenders Division when his pistol discharged as he was pulling it out of its holster. The bullet entered through his thigh and exited out near his ankle, according to HPD Chief Art Acevedo.

Acevedo said fellow officers quickly applied a tourniquet and called for an ambulance to rush him to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

"The gunshot entered in this thigh and came out on his lower leg near his ankle. It appears to be a through and through wound. we’re very happy and relieved to say he is alert, conscious and he is doing well,” Acevedo said.

He blamed the holster, saying it has a design flaw that he believes contributed to the accidental shooting.

“The holster he was using is a holster that has a release right here on the side of the holster and as he came up his finger inadvertently ended up engaging at the trigger into the trigger guard and he shot himself in the thigh,” Acevedo said.

Acevedo said the department is conducting an investigation into the incident. He said he expects the department to prohibit the use of that particular holster by other officers because it’s not safe.