An event intended to strengthen the relationship between police officers and residents turned deadly Tuesday evening in Punta Gorda, Fla.
Mary Knowlton, a 73-year-old retired librarian originally from Minnesota, was killed by a single bullet shot from the revolver of an unidentified Punta Gorda police officer during a live “shoot/don’t shoot” exercise, NBC News reports.
Knowlton's son Steve told NBC that his mother signed up to participate in the exercise following two recent break-ins in her neighborhood, and to show her support for police officers after the recent deadly attacks on officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La.
The shoot/don't shoot drills, where police demonstrate situations where they would have to make a decision about using their weapons, are common throughout the state and are intended to give “people a better idea of what an officer has to deal with when confronted with ambiguous situations,” Steve Arthur, spokesman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), told NBC.
Knowlton was selected as a volunteer to help demonstrate how and when officers decide to use deadly force. Knowlton was playing the role of a police officer and the officer was playing the role of a “bad guy.”
“Mary went over and started the role play and within 30-40 seconds of it starting, all we heard were three loud bangs,” John Wright, president of the Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce, told NBC. “Nobody in their wildest dreams thought this was live ammunition in there.”
The gun, which had been used in an earlier exercise, was supposed to be loaded with blanks. Wright and the other participants thought this was part of the exercise and it wasn’t until Knowlton fell to the floor bleeding that they realized the severity of the situation.
Knowlton was rushed to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
“Our entire police department and all of our city leaders are absolutely devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event,” Chief Lewis said during a press conference Tuesday night, according to the Washington Post.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has launched an investigation into Knowlton's death, and the officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave.