Dropped handgun goes off in store

SILVERDALE, Wash. – A gun went off inside a Kitsap County store after a man dropped it, but no one was injured.

The Kitsap Sun reports that a 58-year-old Poulsbo man told deputies he had removed the .38-caliber, two-shot Derringer pistol from a holster on his belt before he entered the Cost Plus World Market in Silverdale on Saturday afternoon.

He put the gun in a coat pocket, but when he was in the middle of the store, he bent over – and the pistol fell out and discharged.

Sheriff’s spokesman Scott Wilson said there were about 35 customers and workers inside, and staff used the public address system to tell everyone to evacuate.

By the time deputies arrived, mall security relying on witness descriptions had found the man in the Barnes & Noble bookstore next door.

The bullet damaged the leg of a day bed and lodged in a stack of nesting rope baskets.

The gun owner, who had a valid concealed weapon permit, was not arrested, but deputies forwarded the case to the prosecutor’s office for consideration of reckless endangerment charges.