Shift change was always a busy time. Incoming and outgoing gathered to pass information and brief on problem areas and BOLO's (Be On LookOut). And during that time, officers would check their vehicles to make certain everything was in working order, including the shotgun that was carried in the vehicle.
Officer Bayfield, was no rookie; seasoned and well disciplined, highly trained in martial arts and basically an easy going guy, but not always thinking clearly when it came to multi-tasking.
As required, he had removed the shotgun and was checking it while we were having our briefing. He opened the chamber and systematically removed the 00 buckshot from the magazine loading port. He looked through the chamber properly, closed the cylinder, held the weapon skyward and pulled the trigger.
The small room rocked with the resulting explosion - he had overlooked the cartridge that was channeled into the chamber when he first opened it. Men were crawling under tables, behind lockers, inside of lockers, anywhere they could find cover. With weapons drawn we slowly began to look around to see what had happend, was anyone injured, where the shot came from.
Standing in the middle of the room was Bayfield, covered in dust and debris from the ceiling tile that was now in shreds above his head. Slowly those going on call, went to their vehicle for patrol and those now off duty silently headed home. As the shift supervisor made his call to the patrol commander, Bayfield sat down and began to write his incident report and waited for the commanders unpleasant arrival.
