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FBI agent who dropped gun, accidentally shot someone while doing backflip charged with assault

DENVER — An off-duty FBI agent who accidentally fired a weapon that fell while he was dancing at a Denver club, wounding another patron in the leg, turned...
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DENVER -- An off-duty FBI agent who accidentally fired a weapon that fell while he was dancing at a Denver club, wounding another patron in the leg, turned himself in to authorities and was formally charged Tuesday, according to KDVR.

Chase Bishop, 29, is charged with second-degree assault, the Denver District Attorney's Office said. The charge is a fourth-degree felony.

Prosecutors said that additional charges may be filed based on the results of a pending blood alcohol content analysis of Bishop.

“We are filing this charge now rather than waiting until the BAC report is received, which we understand could take another week because sufficient evidence has been presented to file it,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a statement. “If an additional charge needs to be filed after further evidence is received, we can file those charges then.”

The Denver Police Department responded to Mile High Spirits Distillery at 2201 Lawrence St. on the morning of June 2. Bishop was released to an FBI supervisor that night and not arrested.

A woman recorded the shooting with her cellphone. It shows the agent dancing for the crowd and after he does a backflip, the weapon falls out of the back of his waistband.

The gun fired as he went to pick it up, hitting a man in the crowd, Tom Reddington, in the leg.

“We sat down at one of those picnic tables — I heard a loud bang and I thought some idiot set off a firecracker,” Reddington told ABC News.

“Then I looked down at my leg and see some brown residue, … I’m still thinking it’s a firework. … All of a sudden from the knee down it became completely red. Then it clicked that I’ve been shot.”

The FBI declined to comment on the matter Tuesday "in order to preserve the integrity of the ongoing investigation," Denver FBI spokeswoman Amy Sanders said.

"The FBI will continue to fully cooperate with the Denver Police Department and the Denver District Attorney's Office as this matter proceeds through the judicial process," Sanders said.

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