A Michigan man who volunteered his time to play the bad guy in a police training exercise ended up ѕһᴏт in the abdomen by an auxiliary police cadet Sunday afternoon.
Ben Shotts is recovering at a local hospital as Michigan State Police investigate the incident.
The name of the cadet who fɪгᴇԀ the shot has not been released.
The incident took place in Hamilton Park in Taylor, a community park open to the public that includes trails, picnic tables, baseball and soccer fields and a petting zoo.
Participants in the training exercise were supposed to either use fake orange ɡᴜпѕ or at least ensure real ɡᴜпѕ are cleared by removing every bullet. That did not happen in this case.
Shotts told local media that he was playing the bad guy in a police ambush scenario but the exercise had already ended when he was ѕһᴏт.
“And the scenario was over, we were all kind of smiling and laughing because he learned, ‘Wow I almost got ᴋɪʟʟᴇԀ, we’ve got to get it together.’ and I turned around and I just heard boom,” Shotts told Fox 2 Detroit.
“And I realized, ‘Oh my God: the cadet that was backing him up in this scenario, just ѕһᴏт me.’”
The incident is reminiscent of an incident that took place in Florida in 2016 in which Punta Gorda police officer Lee Coel ѕһᴏт and ᴋɪʟʟᴇԀ a woman named Mary Knowlton, a 73-year-old retired librarian who enrolled in the citizen police academy to show her support for police.
Coel was charged with felony ᴍɑпѕʟɑᴜɡһтᴇг with a ɡᴜп and was sentenced to 10 years probation with no jail time. Knowlton’s family ended up receiving a $2 million settlement.
Shotts said he plans on filing a lawsuit but first needs to raise money for medical expenses which is why his fiancee has launched a fund raiser on Go Fund Me. Watch his interview with local media below.
Watch the video below:
