A volunteer DJ at Petersburg’s public radio station accidentally discharged a handgun during his music show on Friday, December 6. No one was hurt. Police responded and determined that the man was not a threat to the community. KFSK’s Hannah Flor was at the station but didn’t see the incident. She has the story.
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It was Friday afternoon when KFSK’s General Manager Tom Abbott heard a gunshot just outside his office.
“I heard it, and it startled me. I looked and the volunteer was standing there, and he had a gun,” he said.
It was a long-time volunteer who played a weekly music show, but Abbott said the volunteer appeared agitated and did not seem to recognize him. The volunteer was holding a handgun but had taken the clip out, which Abbott grabbed. The bullet had gone into a nearby cabinet.
Abbott immediately went to the newsroom and escorted both reporters – the only two other people in the building – out the back door. He came back in and locked the exterior doors of the station.
“I don’t think that there was any intent to do anyone harm on his part – I don’t think so – but at the same time, he was not thinking clearly, and something could have happened,” he said.
Abbott then called the volunteer’s wife, asking her to pick him up, and take him to the hospital. Abbott said he waited to call the Petersburg Police Department until after the volunteer left because he assumed the volunteer was having some sort of mental or physical episode.
“He was going through something and I don’t know how it would have been handled with police coming into the building knowing that there was a man in here with the gun,” he said. “I don’t know how it would have turned out. I don’t know.”
Officer Jared Popp responded to the call. After investigating and speaking with healthcare providers, he said the volunteer was likely suffering from a seizure, which put him in a confused state of mind. Popp said the volunteer won’t be carrying guns going forward.
“He believes that it’s your right to have a firearm in America,” he said. “But now that he knows that he can’t responsibly carry one, he doesn’t feel it’s safe for him to do it, so he’s going to stop.”
Emil Tucker chairs KFSK’s board of directors. He said the board plans to meet this week to figure out the next steps.
“Certainly the two things that are our priorities are: one, the safety – which is physical and mental – safety of staff, and making sure that there’s a very slim possibility [that] this can ever happen again,” he said.
He said he’s not sure if that means there will be any changes to KFSK’s volunteer or visitor policies.
