An off-duty St. Louis cop was accidentally shot by a colleague as a gun battle raged nearby between police and a band of suspected car thieves.
The off-duty cop, who lives nearby, heard the chaos erupt. He grabbed his service weapon and hurried out to help police at the scene, according to the Post-Dispatch. The 38-year-old officer, an 11-year department veteran, was initially stopped by two uniformed St. Louis cops and ordered to the ground.
But the cops soon recognized the mystery man as one of their own and told him to walk toward them, according to a department incident summary released Thursday.
That's when another officer arrived — and fired at the off-duty cop, striking him in the arm, the report said.
According to Fox 2 Now, the officer who fired at his colleague told investigators he feared for his safety and didn't recognize the man as one of their own.