A gun was accidentally fired in a Soldotna coffee shop Sunday, spraying shrapnel and injuring a 75-year-old woman, police said.
The incident occurred about 2:38 p.m. at a Kaladi Brothers on Kobuk Street after a group of friends met for coffee, said Lt. Duane Kant of the Soldotna Police Department.
One member of the group, a 76-year-old man from Kenai, had recently purchased a new 9-millimeter pistol, Kant said. He said the friends were passing it around.
One of the friends pointed the pistol under the table and pulled the trigger, not realizing the gun was loaded, Kant said.
The gun went off. The bullet struck the metal base of the table and fragmented, Kant said. Several fragments became lodged in the lower leg of a woman in the group, he said.
The woman was taken to the hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Kant said.
No charges had been filed. Kant declined to identify the gun’s owner or the person who discharged the weapon, citing an ongoing investigation.
The episode will “probably not” lead to an arrest, Kant said. But he said it raised safety concerns.
“Obviously, we would like to see folks handling their firearms in a place other than a business that’s open for business,” Kant said.
Treat firearms with this rule in mind, Kant added: “All guns are always loaded."