JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A law enforcement instructor accidentally shot Wednesday morning during an active-shooter training at the Criminal Justice Center at Florida State College at Jacksonville's North Campus is recovering, according to police.
Chip Williams, who retired after 25 years with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and now teaches part-time, was hospitalized after a corrections officer in training put a gun loaded with blanks against Williams' back and fired.
While the round was a blank and Williams was wearing protective gear, he was transported to a hospital because gas and gunpowder from the explosion penetrated his skin.
"Thank God he is fine now," JSO Director Tom Hackney said.
The incident happened while 10 JSO officers and four instructors were involved in scenario training at the justice center, which is part of FSCJ but run by JSO. Hackney said Williams fired a blank to initiate the active-shooter exercise outside the "shot house," which is used for SWAT and other building search training exercises. Hackney said Tyler Covacs, a corrections officer with five months on the job, grabbed Williams' gun loaded with blanks, put it against his back and fired.
Hackney said that was not what the training officer was told to do and nothing similar happened in six previous similar training sessions. No live rounds are used during training, but blanks in the instructor's handgun and "simunition" used by those in training still use gunpowder and can cause injury in close proximity.
"Today we missed the mark on safety," Hackney said, adding that the training procedures will be reviewed.
JSO's cold-case investigators were looking into the incident. Smith said.
Crime and safety analyst Gil Smith says if the student-officer had fired a simulation gun on Williams’s back, his injuries could have been more severe.
"It would've been worse, but it wouldn't have been fatal because it’s a non-lethal round," Smith said.