A woman participating in a citizen police academy in central Florida was killed in an accidental shooting Tuesday during a lethal force simulation.
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Multiple media outlets report that Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis says Mary Knowlton was taking part in a roleplaying scenario Tuesday when she was “mistakenly struck with a live round”.
Knowlton, 73, a community volunteer for the library, died in a freakish shooting during a two-hour citizen role play put on by the Punta Gorda Police Department, which is located near Fort Myers, Florida.
“The Academy is created to give citizens an up-close and personal look at how City government functions and helps shape our community”, the website says.
Lewis said the gun used to shoot Knowlton is a revolver, that’s been used with blank rounds for the last two years at these types of trainings.
Punta Gorda Police Lt. Katie Heck said officers in such demonstrations normally use “simunition guns”, which are real-looking weapons that fire a non-lethal projectile with reduced force.
Officer Lee Coel was hired in March 2014, nearly a year after he resigned from the Miramar Police Department. The Punta Gorda Police Department said Coel is a frequent presenter at “shoot/don’t shoot” role-playing scenarios, as well as at youth and neighbourhood events.
“He’s very grief-stricken”, said Lewis, who added that counseling will be made available next week to others affected by the incident. Lewis described Knowlton, whom he said he knew personally, as a “phenomenal” person in the community. “Everyone involved in this accident is in a state of overwhelming shock and grief”, the chief said, according to ABC 7. She was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has taken over the investigation, police said.
Steve Knowlton said his mother would have wanted him to forgive the officer who pulled the trigger.
“One of our first priorities was to involve our police department’s chaplain to provide assistance and comfort”, he said. The officer that shot her has not been named, police said in a statement, but has been placed on administrative leave while officials investigate.
Knowlton’s Facebook page says she is from Austin, Minnesota, and now lived in Punta Gorda. She served as a librarian for the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Egan Public Schools and the Scott County Public Library in Savage.
Her son, Steve Knowlton, said his father was “devastated”.
Dean, who has helped operate similar events for the Fort Myers and Cape Coral police departments, said an incident like this is an impossibility.
“So much is on the internet now”.
Heck said the department has run the shoot/don’t shoot scenarios as part of it’s program here for approximately two years. “That was important to her”, Hartwigsen said Wednesday morning.
“She was the salt of the earth, a handsome soul and the kindest women you would know”, she said.
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“She was an incredible woman”, he said.
