Police Cadet Injured In Gun Range Shooting In Medley

MEDLEY (CBSMiami) - A South Florida police cadet was injured in an accidental shooting at a gun range.

It happened Wednesday night at range operated by the Medley police department in the 9700 block of NW 97th Avenue. While the range is managed by Medley police, all municipalities in Miami-Dade shoot there.

The trainee was reportedly doing firearms training when there was an accidental discharge and he was struck in the leg. The instructor and his classmates applied a tourniquet.

He was then airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital, but there has been no word on his condition.

"This wasn't even an isolated incident," said Juan Mendieta from the Miami-Dade College School of Justice. "This has never happened before at our School of Justice during the live range or live round training at the range."

The cadet, Daniel Quijano, is training to be a Miami Beach Police officer.

"It's part of an exercise where you holster and upholster the weapon, you fire it twice and place that weapon back in the holster," Mendieta said. "It's a controlled environment and during that process the student accidentally shot himself in the leg."

Miami Beach Police Chief Daniel Oates told CBS4 that Quijano is expected to make a full recovery.

"We're extremely lucky that the round, it was an in and out wound, didn't hit any major, vital portions of the leg, didn't hit any bone," Chief Oates said.

Seconds after the cadet shot himself, instructors and fellow students sprang into action, getting real life training on how to treat a gunshot wound.

"They had to apply a tourniquet they had to get him medical aid immediately," Chief Oates said. "So it's real life and cops learn in those moments. Maybe it's a little too early and a little too harsh a learning experience but the bottom line, everyone performed well and the officer is in good shape because of it."

"Modern American policing includes the latest in combat medical care. We are like many police departments in the country, we issue tourniquets to all our officers and train them on that," said Oates.

Oates said Quijano will be out of commission for a while but then he'll head back to the academy to continue his training.

"It's an unfortunate training accident. These are rookie officers, going through the early stages of firearms training. But still, it's something that should not happen. We'll have to engage in some introspection as to why that occurred," said Oates.