Indiana prosecutor accidentally fires gun inside restaurant

Published 2:24 pm Monday, August 8, 2016

ANDERSON, Ind. — Police say a local prosecutor out to dinner with a friend accidentally fired a round into a restaurant wall over the weekend, and no charges will be filed.

Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings discharged his 9 mm firearm as he and a friend were leaving the chain restaurant Texas Roadhouse on Saturday night about 10:17 p.m., according to a police report, said Anderson, Indiana Police Department spokesman Maj. Joel Sandefur.

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“All parties were located and it was determined to be an accidental discharge of a firearm,” Sandefur said, reading from the incident report. He said a round from the gun went through a bench and lodged in a partition in the area of the hostess station of the restaurant.

No guests dining at the time were injured, Sandefur said. He added that there will be no further investigation.

“There is no reason to follow up in this because we know all of the facts about this,” Sandefur said. “Everything is known to us. There is no dispute about what happened.”

According to The Associated Press, Cummings said he’s had the gun for only a couple of weeks but has carried a firearm for 36 years as both a prosecutor and a police officer.

Cummings said he plans to have the gun examined to ensure there are no mechanical problems.

Hirsch writes for the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin.