A newly released video shows the moment a police officer’s gun went off during an emergency response for what turned out to be a hoax school shooting at St. John’s Prep in Danvers in late May.
The video shared Wednesday by the Danvers Police Department showed the officer accidentally firing his gun inside the school while trying to holster the weapon on the afternoon of May 22.
Officers rushed to the all-boys Catholic school after receiving a report of someone with a gun on campus. No one was ultimately found with a gun and there were no reported injuries.
Four officers initially entered the school after learning that the reported gunman could be in a bathroom. Three of the officers entered the bathroom to investigate the possible threat, and as they left, officials said Detective Christopher Gaffney’s gun went off.
In a statement, the Town of Danvers said, “As the three officers exited the first-floor bathroom, one of the officers began holstering his firearm. The officer reported that as he did, his index finger was extended along the side of the barrel, which is consistent with his training, and that a secondary piece of equipment interfered with the holstering process, resulting in a single shot being discharged and striking the bathroom tile floor next to the officer’s foot.”
The sound of the gun going off elevated the situation from a swatting response to an actual active shooter situation. Local and state police descended upon the school on Spring Street and immediately ordered students and staff to shelter in place.
Upon learning of the initial reports of an active shooter, students, and faculty immediately took cover. Some barricaded themselves in classrooms, while others fled the building and ran into the nearby woods.
Gaffney, an 11-year veteran of the Danvers Police Department, has been working within the Criminal Investigation division since September 2019.
An investigation into the source of the hoax call remains ongoing.