A Los Angeles Police Department officer is under investigation today after a bullet that allegedly came from his gun was fired into the wall of a Culver City apartment.
The non-injury incident occurred on Friday morning at an apartment complex in the 6100 block of Canterbury Drive, said Culver City police Lt. Sam Agaiby.
Officers were sent to the location about 7:30 a.m. Friday “to investigate a citizen’s report of a found handgun,” Agaiby said.
“Officers arrived on scene, recovered the weapon and conducted a thorough area check,” Agaiby said. “There was evidence to suggest the gun had been discharged into a wall near where the gun was found. No one was hit or injured.
“Detectives are investigating the ownership of the weapon, as well as the circumstances surrounding the shot fired,” Agaiby said. “It was later determined that the gun is registered to an LAPD officer.”
The officer’s name was not released.
LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith said the Culver City Police Department was conducting a criminal investigation and the LAPD was conducting administrative investigations by its Force Investigation Division and its Internal Affairs office.
Smith said he could confirm only that the individual under investigation is an LAPD officer, but that he could not release any other information or comment on any of the investigations.
Culver City police told ABC7 that the LAPD officer was under investigation for “negligent discharge of a firearm.” The officer was off duty at the time, police said.
According to Channel 7, a couple and their 16-month-old daughter were sleeping in their apartment when the gun was fired. The couple said the bullet lodged in the wall of their apartment but did not penetrate it.
The man and woman, whose names were not revealed, told Channel 7 that a gun was found in a hallway, and police realized the weapon belonged to an officer.
“I open the door, and I’m just creeping out, and I look to the left and don’t see anything. I look to the right, and I see a gun on the floor,” the unidentified woman said.
“At that point they knew it was an officer’s gun, but they hadn’t quite figured out where the officer was,” the unidentified man said. “They didn’t know if he was missing or what was going on.”