A Whitfield County, Georgia, judge accidentally fired a gun in his office in March but wasn’t given a citation after the case was administratively closed.
Philip Woodward, the Whitfield County Juvenile Court judge, fired a gun in his office on March 13 and left courthouse employees worried about their safety, according to an incident report from the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office.
At about 3:30 p.m., Woodward was alone in his office at the Whitfield County Courthouse when he was handling his new Glock 43X, the report states.
Woodward told detectives he took out the magazine and racked the gun to verify that it was empty. He then put the magazine back in and must have chambered a round.
Woodward had the gun pointed to the floor under his desk and squeezed the trigger. The gun went off, sending a bullet into the floor. Woodward said he was “just getting a feel for the gun,” according to the incident report.