Southern California police officer accidentally shoots colleague in ‘horseplay’ incident

The Pasadena Police Department released video on Thursday of an officer who accidentally shot a colleague while engaged in “unsafe and out-of-policy horseplay” with loaded firearms.

It happened around 6:18 p.m. on Sept. 7, 2025, in the department’s parking structure, located at 240 Ramona Street, according to Chief Gene Harris.

In the cruiser dashcam video, a police car can be seen pulling into the parking garage in front of two uniformed officers, who were standing at the rear of a police SUV that had its trunk open.

As the cruiser approached, an officer could be seen drawing his gun and pointing it directly at the approaching cruiser, which the police chief called “inappropriate.”

A few moments later, the officer reholstered the weapon as he and his colleague smiled.

The video didn’t capture what happened next inside the vehicle, put Chief Harris said the officer seated in the patrol car driver’s seat drew his handgun and “pointed it towards the other officer. During this interaction, the driving officer’s firearm discharged.”

The round smashed through the cruiser’s windshield and hit one of the officers in his left shoulder, the chief said.

In the video, all you see is the dashcam suddenly shaking, with a cloud of dust coming from the car and one of the officers grabbing his shoulder, clearly injured.

The officer inside the car then rushed out of the vehicle to help him to the ground and treat his injury.

Harris said the officer who injured in the shooting has since recovered.

Harris said the department withheld release of the video for nearly 10 months by invoking an exception to state law requiring police shootings be released.

He said the release was delayed because it was “necessary to protect the integrity of the investigation and allow investigators to complete essential investigative steps,” he said.

The incident remains under criminal investigation and force review. Disciplinary measures were taken after an administrative investigation, Harris said.

Harris called the incident “regretful” and not up to the department’s expectations.