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'There's a double and triple checking of that': Gun fired inside Chicago Police Academy

Gun fired inside Chicago Police Academy
Gun fired inside Chicago Police Academy 01:45

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A close call inside the Chicago Police Academy after a gun was accidentally fired.

CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot has the exclusive CBS 2 story. Police recruits have to buy their own guns so it's common for gun companies to come to the police academy, so the officers can try out the weapons. 

But a mistake was made and a live round left in one of the guns on display.

Several gun company representatives were at the Chicago Police Education and Training Academy early Thursday morning. Police sources said one of the vendors left a round in one of the guns and did not check it, before putting it on display. 

The vendor then pulled the trigger. The bullet missed the vendor, hit a glass display case and shattered it. The bullet lodged into the wall.

"Fortunate that no officers were injured."

Gun goes off accidentally at Chicago Police Academy 02:51

 

Dr. Arthur Lurigio is a professor of criminology and psychology at Loyola University Chicago.

"Always the top priority is making sure there are no live rounds in the weapon," Lurigio said. "If you're going into a situation where there's no need for a weapon to have a live round, for example, in a gun selling setting, in a gun shop, there's an expectation the gun has been cleared. And even in those situations that I've been in, there's a double and triple checking of that."

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