Hartford Police arrested a 20-year-old man from Bloomfield on Monday after police said he accidentally shot himself while reaching for marijuana in his pocket in Hartford earlier this year.
On May 15, police responded to St. Francis Hospital after getting a report of a patient walking in with a non life-threatening gunshot wound around 9:35 p.m. The patient, later identified as 20-year-old Olajawon Thompson, told officers that he was shot in the right knee during a drive by shooting near Tower Avenue.
Officers responded to the area to try and find a scene and potential witnesses, but could not find anything, police said.
As the investigation into the shooting continued, detectives were able to gather evidence that disputed what Thompson said happened, according to officers. The detectives talked with Thompson at the hospital and he later recanted his original statement about the shooting.
Thompson then told detectives that he was walking on Salisbury Street, near Tower Avenue with an acquaintance on May 15. When he reached into his right pant pocket to retrieve his weed that was in the bottom of it, Thompson accidentally pulled the trigger of the revolver that was also in his pocket, officers said.
The gun fired one bullet that hit Thompson's right knee, according to police. After the shooting, Thompson said he handed the gun off to a second acquaintance that was in the area before getting a ride to the hospital.
After Thompson was released from the hospital, he provided detectives with a sworn written statement. An arrest warrant was drafted, submitted and approved by a Superior Court judge charging Thompson with carrying a pistol without a permit and reckless endangerment, police said.
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On Monday, Thompson turned himself into officers where he was booked and processed. He is being held on $50,000 bond.
