Retired Long Beach Police Sergeant Under Investigation For Threats Against Journalist Shaun King Accidentally Discharges Gun At Gas Station
LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — A retired Long Beach police sergeant who was recently named as being among the former officers investigated for threats against journalist Shaun King accidentally discharged a firearm at a gas station.
Officers were called to a gas station in the 3000 block of Bellflower Boulevard at about 7:30 p.m. Friday on the report of an accidental discharge of a firearm and found 54-year-old Jeffrey Garcia with a "lower extremity" injury. Garcia was taken to a hospital to be treated for the non-life-threatening injury.
No one else was injured, and a handgun was found at the scene and booked into evidence.
Garcia had been named just the day before as one of three former Long Beach police officers being investigated for alleged threats against King. Long Beach police say Friday's shooting is not believed to be related to that investigation.
The department acknowledged that it does not typically release such detailed information for an accidental discharge of a firearm, but that it did so in this instance in an effort to be transparent.
Anyone with information about this incident can call Long Beach police's homicide detail at (562) 570-7244.
