Police clerk shoots self after dropping envelope containing bullets

A Sacramento Police Department property clerk was injured on Thursday morning when she dropped an envelope containing ammunition and one of the rounds went off.

The clerk, whose name was not released, was struck in the upper right leg by the fragmented shell casing, according the police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. The wound did not appear serious as the clerk was wheeled out of the building to a waiting ambulance. She was treated briefly at a hospital and released.

The accident happened at about 9:30 a.m. at the property management warehouse at 555 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.

Leong said the envelope was holding evidence for a criminal case and the round that exploded was a .40 caliber centerfire cartridge. He said he had never heard of such an incident before, describing it as a "one-in-a-million" occurrence.