A Collegedale police officer's department-issued AR-15 was fired inside the City Hall building last week.
Officer Josh Booth was in the department's armory at around 9 a.m. when he was "starting to look" at Sgt. Burlon Hayworth's department-issued AR-15 assault weapon.
The weapon had already been taken apart when Booth received it, Booth wrote in an incident report.
"I attempted to do a weapon check," he wrote.
But due to a rusted bolt, he was unable to clear the chamber.
Booth then started to put the weapon back together, and as he pushed the pieces together, "it caused the weapon to fire a round that was in the chamber," Booth wrote.
"The round went through the wall, and into the squad room and hit a cabinet where it was stopped," he added.
City officials did not return a request for comment or respond to questions about how many people were in the building at the time the weapon was fired.
City Hall closed to the public Tuesday, according to a news release. The closure is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other closed facilities include the Economic Development Center, Public Library, playgrounds, pavilions and Collegedale Commons.
Government operations are still functioning through regular hours of operation, though citizens are requested to interact by phone, fax or email.
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