A Doral, FL, police sergeant had to be airlifted to the hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the chest at the Miami-Dade Public Safety Training Institute in Doral. The firearms exercise was not supposed to include live ammunition, reports the Miami Herald.
The bullet pierced a lung and broke some bones but miraculously missed 29-year-old Sgt. Eric Fernandez's heart by only two inches, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the incident.
Fernandez was moved from intensive care into a room at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Thursday and is recovering, reports the Miami Herald.
Fernandez is an 11-year veteran of the department, and he is a patrol officer and a field training sergeant, police said. Doral Police spokesperson Rey Valdes described Fernandez as "a great guy all around," reports WSVN. "He is a family man. He has a child and another one on the way," he said. "We ask to keep them — Eric and his family — in your prayers."
Doral Police Chief Hernan Organvidez made a brief statement outside the training facility Wednesday afternoon. "An investigation into the training incident misfortune is being conducted by the Miami-Dade Police Department at this time," he said. "There's always hazards in anything we do. I would like to know how it happened in order to avoid any circumstance like this in the near future."
