FBI Agent Loses Gun, Accidentally Shoots Denver Bar Patron; People Who Helped Victim Recall Bizarre Scene
An off-duty FBI agent was the center of attention at a club in Denver, first for his dance moves and then for what happened next on Saturday, June 2. While doing a backflip, his gun dropped off from his holster and accidentally fired off at a bystander as he was picking it back up.
The bystander was hit in the lower leg by the accidental discharge but is expected to survive, according to Denver police. The agent has not been named by authorities since he was not arrested on a charge, according to police spokeswoman Marika Putnam via the Denver Post.
Three of the people present during the incident who have helped the victim were not amused at what happened. They were in the Mile High Spirits Distillery and were ready to call it a night at 12:45 a.m. when the accidental shooting went on, according to the Denver Channel.
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As seen in the cell phone video of the incident, the off-duty FBI agent went for a backflip when his handgun slipped free from a waistband holster and dropped to the dance floor. The man quickly reached for it to pick it up, and that's when it fired off.
Looking at the video, the agent quickly put away the arms and raised both hands while slowly backing off from the scene.
Heather Schiraldi, one of the three who helped the bystander who was struck a few yards away, recalled that they were at the scene to celebrate a friend's birthday.
"We heard a pop," she recalled, which David Laferriere, her fiance, confirmed. "It was a loud noise," he said.
"We were ninety percent sure it was gunshot at the time. Everyone was really scared," he added, thinking at first that there might have been an active shooter at the place.
"We didn't hear anything more," Laferriere continued. "So we assumed it wasn't a gunshot, until the victim grabbed his upper thigh and started screaming, 'someone call 911,'" he recounted, referring to the victim that did not immediately react to being shot.
At that point, the friend of the couple saw how the victim was keeled over and how the victim began bleeding from the lower leg. The friend quickly took a belt and wrapped it around the victim's leg to try and stem the bleeding, while another bystander helped.
Schiraldi, meanwhile, was still incredulous about the whole thing, especially when she first panicked when she thought it was her fiance that got hit.
"Why are you doing a backflip," she asked. "I think that's everyone's reaction. I was just angry because I didn't see him at all after that. He didn't help the victim," Schiraldi pointed out.
The three witnesses also called out the Mile High Spirit security for being slow to respond to the unfolding incident, as well. The incident is now under investigation by Denver police, with possible charges to be determined by the Denver district attorney's office.
