Officer's accidental weapon discharge endangers hundreds of UCF students

ORLANDO, Fla. — Threats of an active shooter at the University of Central Florida’s library Tuesday turned out to be meritless, but students still had a bullet to dodge.

Shortly after students were given the all-clear, a shot pierced the air and students scrambled to get away.

It turns out that the shot was an accidental discharge, the UCF Police Department said.

As a UCF officer was putting his service weapon into his cruiser, it went off, officials said.

The incident happened just feet away from the hundreds of students still standing outside the library after being evacuated due to the original threat.

“It was literally feet in front of me, so it was really scary,” UCF student Kayla Stevens said. “You kind of just saw the guy holding the gun, like it kicked back, and everybody that was standing there ran the opposite direction.”

No one was injured by the accidental discharge.

No explanation was immediately given of what caused the accidental discharge UCF did not release the name of the officer involved.

Cox Media Group