Fairfax County detectives determined that the officer pulled the trigger on a gun he believed was unloaded early Sunday, striking Jesse Brown Hernandez inside an apartment in McLean, Virginia, according to a police statement.
Hernandez, 22, was found deceased with a gunshot wound to the upper body, Fairfax County police said.
The officer who fired the gun has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, police said. He is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on no bond.
Police said that preliminarily detectives determined that Roy “was attempting to dry fire a firearm.”
“Dry firing is when one simulates the discharge of a firearm by pulling the trigger of a firearm that is unloaded,” police said in the news release.
There were four people in the apartment at the time of the shooting, and all were known to each other, police said. Three of the four involved individuals were off-duty U.S. Park Police officers.
Jesus fucking Christ, how hard is it to check a firearm to make sure it ain’t loaded?? It’s like the first thing they teach you in a basic firearms course.
Or, and hear me out, always treat a firearm as if it was loaded. Which would mean don’t dry fire it in a residence. You know, basic firearm safety.
Of course cops are supposed to know basic firearm safety so treating it as intentional would be the logical thing to do.
Dry fire in a residence is fine. You have to do it a lot if you’re working on anything. Heck, on a Glock, you have to do it to remove the slide. And it’s part of a regular function check.
BUT, you only do it after removing the magazine, operating the action, inspecting the chamber, and pointing it in the safest direction you can (basement wall, ground outside, etc.). Certainly not at your buddy. This is pure negligence.
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That’s the second thing they teach you.
Maybe they’re lying?
You think?
Cops fucking lying?!!
Oh I thought it was unloaded.
Bull farking shit! You always treat a gun as if it is loaded!
Bull shit. It’ll turn out that he was shagging the other guys wife
The second thing is “always point the muzzle in a safe direction, do not point it at anything you do not wish to destroy”.
I’m guessing alcohol was also involved, and though not handling firearms intoxicated is not one of the primary rules of firearms safety, it might as well be.
That’s how you tell if a gun is loaded, you point it at someone and pulled a trigger, I’m pretty sure that’s the approved method.
In theory you could check in advance but that seems like a lot of work. Excuse me while I attempt to disarm this bomb by kicking it.
If law enforcement can’t properly handle a firearm, we shouldn’t hand them out to every moron who applies.
If you banned morons from serving in the police force they’re going to be short staffed. I’m sure that some police officers have brains in the same way that I’m sure that aliens exist, I just don’t think they’ve ever visited earth.
You should not even be pointing an unloaded gun at someone let alone “dry” firing it.
They’re not trained in any kind of firearm safety, don’t be silly.