First-year cop shot in hand

A first-year Metro officer was on medical leave today with a wounded right hand suffered Tuesday when an impounded shotgun accidentally discharged, a department spokesman said.

Officer Shane Gifford, 25, was attempting to remove one of two weapons from a soft gun case designed to hold only one when he was wounded, his hand apparently on or near the shotgun's barrel, said Lt. Rick Alba.

He was rushed by ambulance to University Medical Center and underwent hand surgery. A hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday afternoon that Gifford was in good condition and expected to be released that night.

Alba said the shotgun was one of a couple guns police had taken for safe-keeping from the home of a person who attempted suicide. The shotgun was apparently placed in the case backward, alongside a rifle. The blast hit Gifford's hand and protective vest.

Metro's impounding process requires that officers make sure any weapons they retrieve are not loaded. Gifford, who is assigned to the Southwest Area Command, was in the substation's parking lot near a sand-filled barrel used to clear weapons of ammunition when the incident happened.

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