CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Police have charged a man for having a gun in his back pocket go off during a children’s swimming lesson at the University of Charleston pool Friday.
“Lloyd Sims was the suspect,” said Lt. Steve Cooper, chief of detectives at the Charleston Police Department.
Sims, one of the parents at the swimming lesson, was charged with discharge of a firearm within 500 feet of a school, Cooper said on Monday’s “580 Live” with Mayor Danny Jones.
“It was a .40-caliber (handgun),” Cooper said. “The gun went off right around all those kids about 6 o’clock in the evening and fired a hole through the bench that he was sitting on into the floor there where everybody was at.”
No injuries were reported.
“It was loud and shocking. Everybody was upset, but everybody checked their kids out. No body was hurt, thankfully,” he said.
The man had a conceal carry permit, but guns are not allowed on the UC campus. A witness said Sims immediately ran to put the gun away in his car and was very upset about what happened.
A court hearing will be scheduled for Sims within the next two months, Cooper said.