When the call first came in that someone was shot at Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center, police and sheriff’s deputies from several agencies rushed to the Lafayette hospital.
“We really didn’t know what had happened,” said Lafayette police Cmdr. Mark Battersby.
But within minutes, officials learned that the victim, Steven Tapp, 59, of Thornton, had accidentally shot himself in the thigh, probably while reaching for money in his pocket in the hospital’s cafeteria at lunch, Battersby said.
“There was nothing here to indicate this person intended to do anyone any harm,” he said.
After shooting himself in the leg with a .32-caliber semiautomatic Kel-Tec pistol, Tapp went into a rest-room, where security officers quickly disarmed him, officials said.
“If you had to have an accident,” it happened in an ideal location, said hospital spokeswoman Kay Taylor.
Medical attendants put Tapp in a wheelchair and rolled him 200 feet down the hall to the emergency room.
Battersby said Tapp will be cited for three misdemeanor criminal offenses: unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon, prohibited use of a weapon and reckless endangerment. No weapons are allowed in the hospital.
Tapp, who went to the hospital to visit a family member, told officers he had filled out the paperwork for a concealed-gun permit but had not turned it in, authorities said.
He was treated and released within hours of the accidental shooting in good condition.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
